Hello, Goodbye
by Cookies94
Summary: It was not fated Frank and Alice were to meet. They both had their own ideas of love and life, and had nearly nothing in common. Nonetheless their tale started with one Thursday, a chance meeting which managed to change everything.
1. Prologue

It was not necessarily fated that they should meet, although any peer who was asked afterwards would proclaim they were a match made in heaven, by God's own design. That they were the example of what a perfect relationship should be. It was a belief commonly expressed that they were love personified, what everyone hoped they would one day find, but a very few knew the truth.

In fact, it was not even entirely likely for them to meet, or at least not to meet in such a way where they made any sort of impression. In fact, they had met, many times, at various parties and school functions and one never remembered the other, she could vaguely recognize his hair and he could vaguely recognize her name from talk from his parents, but they had never had that true love at first sight that every person who could be asked would claim.

In fact, the first time they met, properly met, she was in a relationship.

It was a Thursday, and she was staying with her sister's soon to be husband Louis Macmillan and his family. Louis and her sister had been dating since they'd met at the Daily Prophet, about three years past. Louis had been working on an article and her sister, Bernice, had been trying to gain some standing in the paper, but was stuck in the dead end job of the editor's secretary. One day he noticed her fetching coffee and struck up a conversation. The rest was history.

In fact, in Alice's opinion her sister's relationship was the example of true love, the love she hoped maybe would one day fall into her lap quite as easily as it had her sister's. However, things were never quite so easy for the sixth year Gryffindor. She'd had a total of six boyfriends in the past four years, spanning from two weeks to three months. Her current relationship, one with a handsome boy named Gilderoy Lockhart, was going quite well in terms of relationships, almost meeting the three month mark, but Alice was scared.

She was always scared, and that's why the relationships ended. Alice craved love, a full blown beautiful love that could move mountains and happened at the first glimpse, but she found it wholly impossible. She could get close, but anytime she started to properly like a boy, and feel they might have some sort of future things started to get complicated. Alice loved the idea of love, but could not handle the feelings or trouble that came with it and thus she ran.

Frank lived in Old Lyme, a prominent wizarding town. He was an only child and hated when they stayed home for the summer. They had a house in Somers; a nice house along the coast where they would often vacation over the summer, at least for a month, where some of his friends would usually stay as well, but due to his father's decreasing health he and his family had stayed home that year.

Frank was starting his seventh year, a Ravenclaw who had only been such a good student for fear his mother might beat him if he was ordinary, and had only had two girlfriends. Girlfriends were a distraction more often than not, and Frank had broken things off with the two when he'd noticed a decrease in his grades, he had liked the girls well enough but Frank wanted to be an auror, and aurors couldn't just stumble through school, flirting with random girls and showing up late.

It wasn't that he wasn't fond of girls, he most certainly was, but as an only child there was a lot of pressure on him to succeed, especially from his mother who seemed to think that he was a perfect child, born a genius and destined to do great, and ergo he couldn't let a girl, no matter how much he liked her, get in the way of his dreams. Plus his mother had not liked either girl.

Frank hated upsetting his mother. He also feared upsetting his mother if he was being honest, although he never was. At least not when it came to his mother, aurors weren't supposed to show fear, especially not of their mother.

Frank fancied one day maybe he'd settle down with a nice wife and give his mother a few grandchildren to put pressure on rather than him, but not until well after the war was over. It wasn't safe; bringing a child into a world that was so full of hate and death, and Frank couldn't risk leaving a widow or an orphan behind if he so happened to die.

All besides, he was seventeen, newly licensed in apparition, with his whole long life ahead of him, he could worry about girls and love and all that nonsense when he was done. Done with school, done with auror training, done saving the world from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. There was always time, Frank figured, when he was older, maybe in his thirties, to find a nice girl and settle down but as it was he just didn't have the time for romance or love.

There was no real predestined plan for them to meet, there was nothing that stated that Frank was to meet Alice and fall in love or visa versa. It was not divine intervention or fate, and when they did meet it wasn't instant love. Frank and Alice both had very different ideas about life and the way they wanted to live theirs, they had near nothing in common, besides perchance their pure blood, and neither was prepared for love.

However, no matter the telling of the story, either by a doe-eyed second year who believed Frank and Alice were the definition of love, having been destined for each other, designed to complete the other's half, or Frank or Alice themselves, who knew the gritty details of their time together, almost all the tellers of the tale could agree that it started on a windy Thursday afternoon outside an ice cream shop where Alice was reading a book, a muggle novel her friend Aurora had demanded she read, and Frank was in dire need of a table to avoid an approaching ex, Nora Whitehorn, who had not been particularly happy with the way Frank had broken things off the year before.

It had been by chance that Frank had noticed the pretty, although he had not noted the pretty part at the time, blonde girl with her ice cream half melted, engrossed in her book and it was more by chance that he happened to notice the rather empty seat across from her at the table.

* * *

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are owned by JKR.**


	2. Chapter One

Alice smiled as she tossed her trunk onto the floor of her room, lying on her bed for the first time in months. She loved Hogwarts and her friends, but there was nothing Alice loved more than the feeling of her own bed. She stretched out enjoying the comfy warmth of her plush bed and enjoyed her few seconds of peace.

There was knock on the door and Alice let out a sigh, pulling herself up off her bed and heading towards the door.

"Yes?" She asked as she opened the door to find her mother on the other side.

"Alice, honey, we need to discuss our summer plans, would you please come downstairs?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah, of course. I thought we were staying here this summer though?" Alice inquired, following her mother down the stairs and into the sitting room where her older sister and father were already seated.

"Well, we had intended to, but there has been a change of plans." Her mother explained, gesturing to a seat on the couch. "Why don't you take a seat?"

Alice sat down next to her sister Bernice who seemed to be smiling like crazy.

"Now that we're all here, Bernice would you care to share the news or should we?" Alice's father asked looking at her sister with a smile.

"Share what news?" Alice inquired looking to her sister with a puzzled look on her face.

"Louis proposed!" Bernice shrieked, waving her left hand in Alice's face, as if she could not contain it anymore.

"What!" Alice shrieked back, grasping her hand and admiring the ring that sat upon the ring finger.

For a few seconds Alice and Bernice were an unstoppable babble of excited voices as Bernice relayed the happy tale to her sister who could hardly contain her joy. In Alice's mind Bernice and Louis were perfect for each other, meant to be, and she was happy they were taking the next step in their relationship. Finally, her father coughed and interrupted their shrieking happiness.

"It is good news, isn't it?" He asked rhetorically, to segway into his next point.

"Yes!" Alice answered with a smile on her face. "How does this affect our vacation plans though?"

"Well, Louis offered to let us stay at his home in Old Lyme for the summer so our families can get better acquainted. It's a very nice home and I think it's a really great idea." Bernice explained with a smile. "We can all get to know each other a little better."

"Old Lyme is a very beautiful town." Mrs. Fawley agreed. "My family used to have a home there; it's very pretty, old architecture, nice wizarding town, good culture. I think it could be good fun and it wouldn't hurt to get to know our soon to be in-laws."

"When would we be leaving then?" Alice asked, aware that it had already been decided.

"Louis said that the rooms were already prepared and his parents couldn't wait to get to know us all so we were thinking of leaving tomorrow if we could. We've already closed up most of the house besides the rooms we're using so we're pretty much set to go." Bernice answered.

"We just need to pack and then we can leave tomorrow." Mrs. Fawley finished.

Alice was aware that 'we' need to pack actually meant they were waiting for Alice to pack as the rest of the family had probably packed a while ago.

"I'll go get started then." She said with a smile getting up and heading to her room.

As soon as she got back to her room she flopped on her bed and tried to soak up the comfort as much as possible, aware that she would be sleeping in a strange bed for the rest of vacation. She wasn't upset by any means, her family often decided on vacation plans while she was at school and Louis was a great guy, she would just miss her bed and familiar neighborhood.

In a few minutes she knew she'd have to get up and pack, carefully pick out clothes she'd want to wear this summer, pack anything she thought she might need. She hated packing and unpacking, having to carefully fold everything and make it fit.

Sighing she got up and began to pack, glancing one last longing look at her bed.

* * *

Old Lyme was, as her mother had said, a beautiful town, but Alice also noted that it was full of older wizarding families and expected that there wouldn't be a lot of youths of her own age to hang out with. She had her friends from school of course, but she wasn't sure how the Macmillans would feel about her inviting people to stay in their home.

The Macmillans were, as one might have guessed from their son, nice enough. Mrs. Macmillan was a nice middle-aged witch with greying hair and a warm smile, while Mr. Macmillan was a tall, slightly fat, and aging man with a warm laugh and a smile on his face. They were basically the sort of people that Alice had imagined Louis' parents to be.

Louis, himself, was kind hearted, sweet and almost never mad, the sort of person who had to have been raised by parents who were equally as kind. In short, the Macmillans were exactly the kind of people who would invite near complete strangers, with the exception of Bernice, into their home for two months in order to get to know them better. The Fawleys weren't that sort at all.

They weren't unfriendly by any means; they just liked having their own space. Mrs. Fawley and Bernice picked up traits from the Shafiq side of the family, Mrs. Fawley's maiden name, and therefore were much more friendly and willing to have guests over and stay at people's houses for extended periods of time; they were the more outgoing side of the family, unafraid to get hurt. Mr. Fawley and Alice, however, were Fawleys through and through; they believed in short visits, close groups of friends, protecting oneself.

Mr. Fawley and Alice were more reserved while Mrs. Fawley and Bernice were just the sort to rush up and hug someone they'd only met once as if they were old friends. It was for this reason why Mr. Fawley often sat in his corner with his paper, smoking away at his pipe, enjoying the solitude. He would have been perfectly happy spending his summer at home, but ever a man of sacrifice knew how important this was to his wife and daughter and would suffer through it for them, although with the hours he worked it would be less of a sacrifice.

"So Alice, are you still attending Hogwarts dear?" Mrs. Macmillan asked, sipping her cup of tea as they sat in the parlor.

"Yes. I'm going into my sixth year." Alice confirmed, taking a sip of her own tea.

"What house?" Mr. Macmillan asked. "I was a Ravenclaw myself, Lenora here was a Hufflepuff and Louis took after me of course. Bernice you were a Hufflepuff, right?"

"Yes, I was a Hufflepuff. It was a good house if the colors weren't a bit unfortunate." Bernice joked causing Mrs. Macmillan to laugh her agreement.

"Oh yes! I remember hating those colors some days. Every other house looked so regal and we were the color of bees!" Mrs. Macmillan agreed.

"You made a very beautiful bee." Mr. Macmillan assured, patting his wife's hand. "We've gotten off topic though, what house did you say you were, Alice?"

"Gryffindor." Alice answered.

"Ah! A brave lion. Just like your father, isn't that right, Richard? You were a Gryffindor, weren't you? If this old brain can remember." Mr. Macmillan recalled.

"It's been a while but yes, I was a Gryffindor I believe. You were a Ravenclaw, right Elsie?" Mr. Fawley agreed, taking a moment to think back.

Mrs. Fawley nodded into her tea.

"Oh dear, we are in a Ravenclaw majority." Mrs. Macmillan observed.

The group fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, the sort that arises when you've only known someone for a few hours and you don't have many topics to talk about before Mrs. Macmillan opened her mouth again.

"I'm afraid there aren't many Hogwarts aged students around here. Old Lyme is rather, old, I suppose." She said, trying to think up some people Alice's age. "Can you think of anyone Edmund?"

"None that aren't typically on vacation." Mr. Macmillan said, scratching his chin. "It seems we have dragged you here with no entertainment for the summer!"

"Oh, it's all right." Alice assured with a smile. "I have homework with NEWT classes next year and a few books my friend Aurora demanded I read. I'm pretty good at finding ways to entertain myself."

Mr. and Mrs. Macmillan smiled to each other assured, and Mr. Macmillan turned to Mr. Fawley.

"How's work at the ministry going Richard? You keeping everything together over there?"

* * *

It wasn't that Old Lyme was particularly boring, although Alice suspected that it very well might have been, it was just that Alice didn't know what there was to do there. At least, that's what she told herself as she spent her second week lying in her guest room, staring at the ceiling desolately. She had already exhausted all subjects of conversation with the Macmillans, or they were sick of forcing conversation with her, and explored the town as much as she cared to.

She'd finished three of the books that Aurora had ordered she read or else they couldn't be friends anymore, and frankly she did not care to read anymore. Therefore, she had taken up staring up at the ceiling with a look of despair on her face, certain her summer was going to wither away. Alice was so bored, she was considering doing her homework, but she couldn't bring herself to go hunting through her stuff to find it, and she was perfectly happy staring at the shapes in the ceiling.

"Alice dear, would you like to go shopping with me?" Mrs. Fawley asked, opening the door and poking her head in.

Shopping meant wandering the tiny shopping district that was located on Main Street in Old Lyme. It was a tiny little district, a few shops at most, and Alice had already explored them and deemed them all boring on her third day there. Her mother, however, had not checked them out, and Alice wanted to get out of the house, as the ceiling had grown tiresome.

"All right. Let me just look presentable." Alice agreed rolling off the bed as it was the fastest way to get off.

"Okay dear, come down when you're ready." Mrs. Fawley agreed, laughing at her daughter.

Alice quickly changed out of her pajamas, having been too lazy and bored to even bother getting dressed or go down to breakfast, and quickly pulled her hair into a side braid. She slid on a pair of sandals that were lying on her floor, and grabbed her purse before heading downstairs to her mother.

"Oh I'm so excited! Lenora said they had some cute shops in the shopping district." Mrs. Fawley exclaimed as they made their way to the main part of town.

Alice kept her snort to herself, not wanting to taint her mother's excitement. Perhaps her mother would enjoy the shops after all, although Alice wondered how Mrs. Macmillan had thought they were cute in anyway. To each their own, she supposed.

Alice wandered through a few shops with her mom, eyes glazed as her mom picked up various items admiringly, wondering if the ceiling of her room had been more interesting than this or not. At least in her room she didn't have to be dressed. Alice was pondering a way to go back to her room and solitude, when her stomach rumbled and her mother turned to her in surprise.

"Oh. I didn't eat breakfast. I guess I'm hungry." Alice said sheepishly.

"There's a little café across the street, go get something to eat." Mrs. Fawley ordered, digging through her own bag and pulling out a few galleons. "I can finish shopping by myself."

Alice smiled, taking the galleons and exited the store to the nearby café, hoping the food was good, as she found she was quite hungry. The café, however, turned out to be an ice cream parlor, and Alice resigned herself to eating not that filling ice cream, at least she could get cookie dough.

Sitting down at one of the outdoor tables, Alice glanced at her waffle cone hoping it would be enough to satisfy her suddenly very overwhelming hunger. What she wouldn't give to be with Dorcas right now, who always kept food in her bag for emergency purposes. Alice set about eating her ice cream, enjoying the delicious substance even if it didn't entirely fill her. Alice glanced between the shops, and her ice cream, which was slowly dwindling, and back again. She did not particularly want to go back to shopping, the stores were stuffy and her mother liked the weirdest things, but she was also almost out of ice cream.

Alice ruffled through her bag, pulling out her book and a half full sleeve of mostly crumpled crackers. Shrugging and figuring the crackers were better than nothing, Alice opened her book and picked up on where she had left off, if only to pass the time. Every now and then she would reach for a cracker, or the remnants of one as it may be.

It was just as she was getting to the part where Meursault was shooting the Arab, for no apparent reason as far as Alice could see, that her peaceful reading was interrupted.

"Shit." A voice declared, breaking Alice out of her reverie as the person slammed down quickly into the chair across from her.

"Pardon?" Alice asked, looking up to see a boy of around her age sitting across from her, seemingly trying to hide himself behind his hand.

He looked up at her, then behind her, then back to her, then at her crackers, before a look of confusion crossed over his face.

"Just pretend I'm not here." He muttered, trying to make himself as small as possible, which seemed hard as Alice could observe he was relatively tall.

"Kind of hard." Alice remarked, raising an eyebrow. "Can I help you or do you normally just kidnap people's tables?"

"You can help me by going back to reading your book and drawing as little attention to me as possible." The guy replied, glancing behind Alice once again.

Alice, now too curious to go back to reading, glanced over her shoulder to see what he was looking at.

"No. Don't turn around. That is not being inconspicuous at all." The boy grumbled.

"I just want to know what you're looking at so frantically." Alice defended, turning around again and leaning out of her seat to get a better look.

"Okay. I clearly should have picked the table with the old man. You are horrible at not drawing attention." The boy said, giving Alice a glare.

"Well, if you would stop acting so odd then I wouldn't have to be craning my neck to find out what you're looking at." Alice pointed out, glancing back at the boy. "What are you even looking at? There's nothing back there anyways."

"If I tell you will you stop making such a spectacle of yourself?" He grumbled, glancing around at the people who were glancing at them.

"Yes. Obviously." Alice declared, making to turn back into her seat, but instead sliding and falling onto the ground.

Just as Alice fell, creating a loud sound that drew the eye of nearly everyone in the vicinity, a girl walked by and glanced down at her, pulling a face as Alice picked herself up off the ground.

"Shit." The boy muttered once again, loud enough only for Alice to hear.

"No that's cool, no one help me up. I'm fine. Thank you random snotty girl, thank you random weird intrusive boy. You are both such kind people." Alice declared, dusting herself off before taking her seat again.

The boy sent her one last glare, as the girl stopped and sent Alice a very angry glare, before glancing at the boy sitting across from her.

"Frank!?" She yelled, turning her glare to him. "What are you doing here? Are you on a _date?_"

"Thanks a lot." Frank mouthed to Alice who shrugged. "Listen, Nora…"

"How _dare _you!? Cheating on me? With this frumpy weirdo who can't even sit in a chair? Are you sharing crackers? That is so pathetic Frank Longbottom." Nora raged.

Alice, slightly offended, but mostly confused what was happening, shrunk into her seat and tried to hide behind her book. She did not want to be involved in a lover's spat.

"Nora, we broke up four months ago…" Frank said tiredly, Alice almost pitied him.

"No. We only break up if_ I _say so." Nora clarified, hands on hips.

Frank ran a hand across his face and slumped back his chair, clearly giving up and taking this possibly crazy girl's attack. Despite the fact Alice slightly resented this Frank bloke for involving her in his weird lover's spat, she pitied him. This girl was insane.

"Excuse you?" Alice asked, standing up and trying to imitate her friend, Dorcas' attitude. "Who are you calling frumpy? I'm sorry I don't have such low self-esteem that I have to walk around wearing practically nothing. Your poor choice in fashion aside, how about you leave my boyfriend alone, hmm? You broke up. Get over it and move on."

Frank and Nora gaped at her, although Frank at least had the brains to try and contain his shock.

"What did you just say to me?" Nora bit, turning daggers to Alice, who instantly regretted all the choices she had ever made in her life.

"I think you heard me. " Alice replied, against her better judgment.

"You little…" Nora began murder in her eyes.

"No, no. We're done here. Nice meeting you Nora, really. Now scram before I hit you with a nice Bat Boogey Hex, yeah?" Alice interrupted, throwing all caution to the wind.

Nora gaped for a few seconds, before walking off. Alice could barely breathe.

"Oh shit, I thought I was going to have a heart attack." Alice said as soon as Nora had left.

Frank gaped at her, but before he could say anything Nora had reappeared.

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" Nora snapped, glancing at Alice.

"I didn't. Didn't I tell you to scram? I'm sick of looking at your ugly face." Alice replied trying to coat on a layer of bitch she did not know she contained.

"I want your name." Nora demanded, leaning over threateningly.

Alice considered making up a name for a second, as Nora absolutely terrified her, but couldn't think up a good enough one.

"Alice. Alice Fawley. Got a problem with that?" She stated, crossing her arms in an attempt to look intimidating.

"Aren't you like a sixth year?" Nora asked, an eyebrow raised.

"And?"

"So you're sixteen. You can't even do magic outside of school loser, some kind of threat." Nora challenged a smirk on her face.

"You think I care?" Alice asked with a laugh. "There's about twenty of age wizards here, they're not going to know if I use magic or not. The Ministry trace isn't that good, dear. Now I suggest you scram before I _do _use that Bat Boogey Hex."

"Aren't you dating Gilderoy Lockhart?" Nora asked once again, although this time less assured.

Alice shrugged noncommittally and reached a hand into her bag.

"Do you really want to stand here asking pointless questions? Because I've hexed someone for less." Alice stated plainly.

"Fine." Nora pouted, stomping her foot. "We are so through Frank."

Alice watched eyebrow raised as Nora stalked off, this time for good.

"Your ex-girlfriend is really scary." Alice muttered eyes wide once she was gone.

"You're really scary." Frank remarked, glancing at Alice.

"I am?" Alice asked, a smile breaking on her face. "I was, wasn't I? Dorcas is going to be so proud of me! She always says I'm way too cowardly to be a Gryffindor."

"Well, thanks are in order I suppose." Frank declared, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I think you've officially shaken Nora off me…"

"No problem. She seemed really mean. I felt bad." Alice assured with a smile.

"All right, well thanks again, I suppose I ought to be going." Frank said, motioning to get up. "I'll let you get back to your book."

"Wait, wait, wait." Alice exclaimed, grabbing Frank's arm. "You owe me, and seeing as this book is super boring and you're the first person I've met who isn't super old or super mean, you might as well help me find something interesting to do. I really don't fancy staring at my ceiling for another few hours."

"Sorry to break it to you," Frank replied, sitting back down, "But there's nothing interesting to do here. I'm stuck here for the summer and I've never been more bored in my life."

"Me too." Alice said, placing her chin into her hand. "I've been here for three weeks and I've already exhausted all my options. The family I'm staying with won't even talk to me anymore, it's sad really. You're the first person I've met our age. Wait, how old are you anyways?"

"Seventeen." Frank answered. "You're sixteen, right? Nora said you were a sixth year."

"Yeah. So you go to Hogwarts then? You look vaguely familiar." Alice remarked, squinting at him as if trying to place him.

"Your name sounds really familiar." Frank mused. "Alice Fawley, right?"

"The one and only. Your name doesn't ring any bells, but I'm horrid with names. Frank Longbottom was it?" Alice inquired, tilting her head.

"That's me." Frank agreed, glancing at Alice once more before shrugging it off. "Who did you say you were staying with?"

"The Macmillans. Do you know them? They're an old pureblood family. My sister Bernice is marrying their son so we're spending the whole summer with them. I don't think they like me very much." Alice answered.

"Louis Macmillan? I didn't know he was getting married. Usually word travels fast in pureblood society. I'm surprised my mother didn't say anything."

"You're…a pureblood?" Alice asked. "I'm so bad with names, Merlin's Beard. There's only like twenty of us and I can't even remember all the families."

"Yeah." Frank answered. "That's why your name was familiar; Fawley is a pureblood family. I think my mother has talked about you before…"

"About me?"

"My mother talks about every pureblood girl my age." Frank said with a roll of his eyes.

"Speaking of mothers, I think I ditched mine." Alice remembered, glancing around. "I better go find her, but you better think of something interesting to do Frank, because you still owe me."

"I'll try, but really, I've got nothing." Frank said with a laugh.

"Then try harder." Alice declared, getting up. "See you later."

"Bye."

* * *

Frank scrambled his brains trying to think of something, anything to do. Now that he had a mission to achieve, a goal, the general boredom that had permeated him since the start of break had evaporated. With something new to focus on the days spent staring at the ceiling, reading in the study with his father, and patrolling the town square in the want of something to do, were put on hold, and Frank could look towards a new, mysterious adventure with a sort of excitement that had been missing since he had exhausted all interesting options the first three days.

The problem was, of course, that there was little to nothing to do in Old Lyme that Frank hadn't already done and found less than lacking. He had a notion that this Alice Fawley girl would be less than impressed at the prospect of going on a very short hike to the very small park that could be walked about in in less than an hour.

He had been trying to think of something for a few days now and nothing had come to mind. He had run through a plethora of ideas, all of which were less than stellar, and was just about ready to give up all hope. If he was lucky Alice would forget all about her expectation of him to pay her back and he could go back to the monotony of his days. Two months wasn't that long of a time to be forced to spend in Old Lyme anyways.

Frank rolled off his bed and onto the floor, landing face first into the plush carpet that awaited him. He groaned in aggravation as he lay despondently on the floor thinking. He breathed in blue carpet fibers and ran through every location that existed in Old Lyme and all nearby towns. He came to the conclusion that he had already been aware of, before he had even come home for the holidays, that there was nothing to do in Old Lyme. Not a single damned thing. All he had left was to pray that Alice didn't figure out where he lived and that he never ran into her.

A knock came on the door and Frank, assuming that it was his mother or father, called out a muffled "Come in."

He heard the door open and awaited the scolding from his mother or question from his father but heard, instead a rather unexpected giggle. He considered turning his head to check who it was giggling at him, it would be the natural thing to do, but he thought maybe if he pretended that there was no one there the person that he knew that it was would disappear.

"I'm assuming this means you've got nothing?" Alice asked, Frank groaned in annoyance that his plan had not worked.

"Absolutely nothing." Frank told the carpet. "Unless if you fancy going on the shortest hike to the smallest park in the whole of England?"

"There's a park here?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, you haven't been there before?" Frank replied, pulling himself off the carpet.

"Let me summarize the extent of my time in this place, shopping district, the Macmillan estate, here, and some house shopping walk my mother made me go on. I hope to Merlin that doesn't mean she wants to move her." Alice explained. "Is the park really that small?"

"You would have to see it to believe it." Frank said. "I don't think one can explain the smallness of this park."

"Park then?" Alice asked. "Preferably today, because if I have to sit around the Macmillan house for another day staring at their ceilings I might go insane."

"I know the feeling." Frank remarked. "Park then. You're lucky it's a really short hike, otherwise those sandals would not be advisable."

"Very lucky. Sneakers don't go with dresses." Alice agreed, leading the way out of Frank's room and down the hallway.

"You could wear pants." Frank suggested wryly.

"I don't like pants." Alice said at once.

"Weird." Frank remarked.

"You really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?" Alice teased looking over a shoulder at him. "I'm beginning to see why Nora was so adamant on not letting you go."

* * *

Frank and Alice happened upon the hiking path which was more of a walking path up a hill than anything else. It was called the hiking path as it was made entirely of dirt rather than the cobblestone and brick that the rest of the town's walkways comprised of. From the bottom of the hill where the path wound between trees and even over a fallen log the park was barely visible.

"This is pitiful." Alice said at once even though a smile brokered her face. "In my town there's a whole abandoned castle and you guys just have this."

"Where are you from anyways?" Frank asked.

"Upper Flagley." Alice answered making her way up the path.

"Well that's a proper town, whole range of people living there. This place is called Old Lyme for a reason." Frank replied. "Our tiny little hiking path and park is pretty much all most residents here can handle."

"I bet the park is pretty though?" Alice said hoping for the best.

"It's pretty, just small. It used to be owned by the Rowles years ago but that part of the family died off and in the will Fredriech Rowle wanted it to be turned into a park as he thought it was a travesty the town never had one."

"If it was an estate shouldn't it be fairly large?" Alice inquired imagining her own estate which was of considerable size.

"Fredriech was a miser. It was a tiny townhouse everyone thought was an eyesore since it didn't go with the rest of the lavish architecture." Frank explained.

"That's why there's no properly paved path either."

"You know an awful lot of town history." Alice said raising an eyebrow. "I don't know two figs about Upper Flagley."

"I've been really bored the last two weeks." Frank said by way of explanation.

"More productive than what I've been doing. Which was, of course, staring at a wall." Alice replied with a laugh before catching her breath having arrived on the location. "This place is so pretty!"

The park, which Frank had described in such minute detail besides small, was astounding. Although the property itself was a bit wanting in size the decor rather made up for it. There were a few trees dotting the edges of the property, covering the walls that enclosed the park. All about the park were paths ringed with flowers and the occasional park bench. In the center was a fountain which glistened beautifully in the noon sun where a few townspeople milled about. It was perhaps less of a park and more of a garden.

"It's like the Secret Garden." Alice breathed, referencing the muggle novel she had only just finished.

"Pardon?" Frank asked in confusion.

"It's this muggle thing." Alice said waving him off and walking on the paved paths. "It's beautiful, small, but beautiful."

Alice was looking at the park with a sort of gleeful wonder trying to memorize everything her eyes fell upon. Frank watched on bemused. At some point in time he had probably reacted much the same way, but over the years the beauty had somewhat dwindled into familiarity and although objectively he could see it was beautiful he lacked the sort of thrill Alice was exuding.

Alice, on the other hand, adored pretty things. She collected them like most people would collect stamps or chocolate frog cards, tucking them away in her brain to go over and revisit later, when she needed them. This was the exact sort of thing she prized, a corner of beauty tucked away, hidden and secretive. The rare beauty in an otherwise standard place was Alice's favorite.

"Well we certainly don't have anything like this in Upper Flagley." Alice stated, wistful smile on her face.

"Advantage, Old Lyme." Frank replied making a tick in the air as if in victory.

Alice ignored him wandering forward in her own little world, trying to capture the wonder in every minute detail. She had reached the fountain in the center and perched on the lip, sticking her hand in the water and creating ripples. Humming quietly to herself as she took in the sickles and knuts that seemed to litter the bottom of the fountain, hopes and dreams of people Alice would never know. Abruptly she turned around.

"We should have a picnic here sometime." She said to Frank who had been standing, hands in pockets, looking at the sky.

"What?" Frank asked, startled out of his own thoughts. "Oh yes, that would be nice."

Alice was not one hundred percent certain he had actually heard her but she took it as an agreement anyways, she couldn't go on a picnic alone after all.

"Were you evaluating the weather?" She asked laughing lightly at him.

"Looks like rain." He replied, eyes on the sky once more, barely paying attention to her.

"It's England, it always looks like rain." Alice pointed out laughing again.

"Looks like rain shortly." Frank clarified looking at Alice for the first time. "What are you doing?"

Alice who was never one for simply sitting about but was rather a woman of action, one who enjoyed getting the full experience, had kicked off her sandals and hopped in the fountain. She was walking about, arms stretched out, toeing the coins that lay on the bottom.

Alice shrugged, having not thought through what she was doing as she took off her sandals and entered the fountain, but was rather focusing on the fact that she had wanted to do it. Alice was, by nature, impulsive and perhaps a bit odd, and often had issue deciphering a good idea from a bad. She therefore had no idea why she was walking about the fountain simply that she had wanted to and was enjoying it now that she had.

"I felt like it." Alice said, answering neither the question asked nor providing a real explanation. "You should join me it's divine."

Frank raised an eyebrow as response.

"Come on then, don't be a square." She goaded stopping her meandering about the fountain to look at Frank challengingly.

"Odd duck." Frank said to himself as he removed his shoes and socks. "I never would have brought you here had I known you were going to climb in the fountain."

"I'd have warned you of the possibility had I known there would be a fountain." Alice replied as she watched Frank roll up the bottoms of his pants and step into the fountain. "You can't deny this is the most interesting thing you've done all summer."

"Interesting is definitely a word I'd use." Frank remarked.

Alice, who had never been much for witty retorts, elected to bend over and splash Frank rather than respond.

"Oi!" Frank exclaimed as the water hit him. "Alice, we use our words."

"Words are overrated." Alice declared with a giggle splashing Frank again as if to prove her point.

Frank looked at her crossly, mature individual that Alice was she stuck her tongue out at him and splashed him again.

"You caused this to happen." Frank prefaced, Alice raised an eyebrow challengingly.

Frank, not one for doing things halfway when he committed to it, picked Alice up swung her around and dropped her back into the fountain. It backfired in that the backsplash got Frank reasonably wet as well but Alice came out of the affair spluttering and laughing.

"You want to play dirty then?" She asked threateningly swiping her foot under Frank's leg and tripping him so he fell into the fountain as well.

Frank, rubbing his bottom, glared at Alice who was smirking victoriously. Frank lifted his foot out of the water and splashed Alice in the face in an attempt to get the victorious look off her face. Alice left out a laugh as her hair flopped unattractively onto her face.

"This is probably the most fun I've had since I got here." She declared cracking up.

"Me too." Frank agreed with a laugh. "I didn't think I'd end up soaked in a fountain today."

"The whole fun of it is that it's unexpected." Alice declared smiling before splashing Frank again.

The two splashed each other for a bit, trying to dunk the other under the water unsuccessfully, as Frank always seemed to expect Alice, and Alice was too quick and slippery to get caught. Alice was in the middle at an attempted sneak attack, one that Frank was pretending not to know of so he could turn around and dunk Alice before she got the chance to slip away, when she stopped suddenly, surprising Frank.

"Hullo." Alice remarked waving to an elderly couple who were looking at the two with bemused expressions on their face.

"Having fun?" The old man asked laughing as Frank made an attempt to get up.

"A bit." Alice answered smiling at him.

"I remember when we used to have fun like that." The elderly woman remarked.

"You still could. Age is but a number." Alice pointed out with a smile.

"I'm not quite sure that these old knees could take it." The woman said with a laugh. "Have a little fun for the both of us."

"Glad to see some people aren't wasting their youth. Too many youngins today sitting about doing nothing." The man grumbled to his wife as they turned to walk away.

"Are you in the habit of striking up conversations with strangers?" Frank asked a bit mortified at being caught.

"They were looking right at us. It would have been rude if I pretended not to see them." Alice exclaimed watching as Frank grasped the statue in the middle of the fountain.

"Bit rude they were staring, innit?" Frank remarked now properly standing once more.

"In their defense we were making a bit of a spectacle of ourselves." Alice replied laughing as Frank colored slightly. "I'm getting the impression you don't dothis very often."

"Climb into fountains? I'm not in the regular habit of it, no." Frank said rolling his eyes at the idea.

"Boring." Alice declared moving to attempt to get up as well. "We'll have to break you out of that shell won't we?"

"I was afraid you might say that." Frank remarked apprehensively stepping onto the lip of the fountain before hopping to the ground.

"It'll be fun, promise." Alice said smirking. "Right then Franklin, help me out."

Frank took Alice's out stretched arms and pulled her out of the fountain and onto dry land once more. Alice smiled at the squish of dirt and grass between her feet.

"You wouldn't happen to have your wand on you, would you?" She asked hopefully.

"Of course." Frank answered leaning over to where he had placed his shoes and socks and picking up his wand.

"Brilliant. I didn't fancy walking home soaking wet." Alice remarked smiling approvingly at the wand. "I hope you aren't complete rubbish at charms."

In answer Frank waved his wand and dried them both off wordlessly.

"Spiffing." Alice declared pulling her shoes back on. "I should have befriended someone a year older than me ages ago."

"I have my uses yet." Frank replied smirk edging onto his face.

"I am entirely impressed." Alice agreed glancing at the sky. "Looks like it's getting late. We ought to head back, shouldn't we?"  
Frank glanced at the sky evaluating it.

"We should if we want to beat the rain." He remarked, shoving his own shoes back on.

"It's all about the rain with you, Franklin." Alice said heading towards the exit to the park.

"We live in England; everything is always about the rain." Frank retorted. "And it's just Frank. No Franklin."

"Well then, just Frank, I suppose I ought to say thank you. Today was absolutely brilliant. Almost improved my opinion of Old Lyme even." Alice proclaimed.

"You're welcome, just Alice, glad I could help." Frank replied.

"Hey now, how do you know it's just Alice? Alice could be a nickname!" Alice exclaimed in slight outrage at the assumption.

"Terribly sorry, Allison is it then?" Frank asked smirk forming on his face.

"No, just Alice." Alice admitted petulantly.

"So I was right then." Frank said smirking victoriously at her.

"You don't have to sound so smug about it." Alice replied crossing her arms. "You're a piece of work, aren't you?"

"What a pair we make, eh? Me the piece of work and you the odd duck." Frank exclaimed placing his hands in his pocket. "Begs for an interesting summer, I think."

"Indubitably." Alice agreed smile on her face at all the opportunities that awaited them this summer.

Perhaps it would not be absolute rubbish after all.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable names, characters, or objects. All Harry Potter related things belong to JKR.**


	3. Chapter Two

When it rains, it pours. This was not, by any means, a metaphor for extenuating circumstances that seemed to only get worse, but rather an observation of the weather. Frank had been right when he had proclaimed that 'it would rain' as he stared up at the sky speculatively, stating the comment as if mentioning the color of eyes. Offhand, an unimportant observation, a regular occurrence.

He had not been able to predict, however, just how much it would rain. Frank had assumed a downpour, yes. Perhaps a slight flooding of the town's river, but he had by no means expected the torrential downpour that seemed to overtake Old Lyme. No one went outside without first casting a rain prevention charm, and certainly not without first pulling on rain boots. The cobblestone streets had become splattered with mud and puddles, children would ride their brooms low, dragging their feet over the puddles to create an amusing backlash.

The usual bustling town square and shopping district was relatively empty, as people inclined to stay inside rather than go out. The Macmillans had provided soup for dinner nearly every night since the rain had started to warm their guests and keep up their spirits, but Bernice had a weird hatred of soup that no one had ever been able to understand. In the usually mild-mannered household tensions were beginning to run high, Bernice becoming increasingly more cross as an unsuitable dinner was once again offered up to her, Alice bored out of her mind once more as she was prevented from finding any suitable means of distraction, Mrs. Fawley distressed at her daughters' lack of polite conduct, and Mrs. Macmillan at her wits end as to what to do to alleviate the stress.

The only one unaffected seemed to be Louis, who kept a warm smile and tried to keep the feuding groups from each other. It seemed, however, that even this burden was beginning to wear on him. It was only so much everyone could take, being around each other twenty-four seven with nothing to do. They had tried to start a puzzle a bit back, but Bernice had not managed to get a piece to fit and had tossed it aggressively into the fire, perhaps accidentally. The puzzle had been abandoned after this event, no one blamed Bernice, she was mostly distressed out of hunger as she had been asked to eat soup for the third night in the row, and been told soup would be on the menu that night as well.

In short, everyone was at their wits ends. Alice, who had already suspected that the Macmillans were beginning to become a bit annoyed with her constant laying about, was even more aware of this fact as their good nature slowly began to wane, and she was forever trying to find a way to make herself a scarce as possible. It was seemingly impossible; however, despite the size of the house, she always managed to be on top of someone else.

It was due to this growing aggravation that Alice gave up trying to stay indoors and therefore dry, and elected rather on the fifth day, to don a pair of rain boots and grab an umbrella, in an attempt to make some sort of entertainment for herself, while getting out of the Macmillans' hair. She was not particularly sure she was going until she arrived there, soaking as she had jumped in several puddles along the way. She knocked on the door to the Longbottom mansion, umbrella over her shoulder, hair dripping onto her face.

"May I speak to Frank Longbottom, please?" She asked the house elf who answered the door.

The house elf, unsure if he should invite this dripping, ragged looking creature into his master's home, went to fetch Frank at once, hoping that he could make the choice. It was a hard choice for a house elf, being punished for letting someone who was soaking wet in, or being punished for not inviting a guest in, Alice did not fault him for leaving her standing awkwardly on the threshold.

Frank appeared shortly, book in hand, and raised an eyebrow at Alice.

"I told you there'd be rain." He said almost at once.

"I'll give you that." She replied with a laugh.

They stood for a second, Frank debating to let her in as she was, he couldn't try her off as he had left his wand in his room, or continue to speak with the door open, rain splashing against the carpet. Alice on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say, not the quickest with words.

"All right then Longbottom." She declared at least, breaking the silence. "You've got two choices, either join me out here in the pouring rain and get soaked, or invite me in and find us something to do for the remainder of the day."

"I believe it's rude to invite yourself over someone's house." Frank pointed out.

"I gave you a choice. You could very well _not _invite me in and then it wouldn't be rude at all." Alice pointed out, having expected this.

Frank glanced behind her as if evaluating the choice.

"How bad is it out there?" He asked.

"Not too bad." Alice replied.

Frank raised an eyebrow, gesturing to her appearance in obvious doubt.

"Oh no, I look like this because there was this really big puddle and then this kid flew by on his broom and I got hit with the splash. The puddles are brilliant though, I promise." Alice assured. "The rain is not so much pouring now, as just raining heavily. Not so bad as to obscure vision though, so there's that."

"You were playing in puddles." Frank remarked wryly."

"You don't play in puddles?" Alice asked in surprise, Frank shook his head. "Merlin, you are the most boring wizard ever, Frank."

"I don't know about most, but definitely top five." Frank retorted. "When you take into account Professor Binns, can I really be the most boring?"

Alice laughed.

"As much as I enjoy your wit, Frank, I'd really rather you make a decision already." She said after a pause.

Frank glance out Alice, then outside, then back at Alice.

"Let me get my wand." He declared before turning around and disappearing.

"That really tells me nothing." Alice called after him, still standing on the threshold.

He arrived back at the door quickly, wand now in hand, and wordlessly dried Alice off.

"Inside then?" She asked, taking a step inside.

"I really don't fancy playing in puddles. As fun as that sounds." Frank replied sarcastically.

"Boring." Alice remarked. "That means it's up to you to decide what we do."

"I decided last time." Frank argued.

"Yes, but I was going to have us play in the puddles, so it's back to you." Alice disagreed. "You turned my idea down."

"It's still your turn though. Which means you have to decide." Frank declared. "I'm oldest, that means I get to make the rules."

"You sound like my sister." Alice remarked wrinkling her nose.

"Is your sister the oldest?" Frank asked.

"Yes."

"Well there you go then. It's a well know rule. The oldest makes the rules, and as I am the oldest, it is your turn to decide." Frank said.

"You can't turn it down though." Alice negotiated.

"No one said that was in the rules." Frank remarked.

"I just did. Right now." Alice argued.

Frank thought this over for a minute, most likely to give Alice a false sense of hope, the shook his head.

"No. As the oldest I don't much like that rule. Denied." He decided.

"Prat." Alice said, glaring at him. "You might be oldest but I'm-."

"Tallest? Strongest? Able to use magic outside of school? No, wait. That's all me." Frank supplied, smile edging onto his face.

"I think I actually hate you." Alice told him.

"I'm just teasing." Frank said waving her off. "We'll do whatever you decide, as long as it is not extremely messy or childish or stupid."

"I'm offended you'd think I would come up with something childish or stupid." Alice stated.

"You wanted to play in puddles." Frank replied, as if it was evidence enough.

"Playing in puddles is fun!" Alice exclaimed. "You're just boring."

"Circles, Alice dear, we are talking in circles." Frank told her. "You still need to pick what to do."

"Fine." Alice said, pausing to think it over, before smiling. "Let's build a fort."

"I believe I said not childish." Frank said skeptically.

"Building forts isn't childish. It is educational. You learn all about building structure and balance and all that sort of stuff. You're a Ravenclaw, this is the kind of out of the box education you get off on." Alice argued.

"We'll make a fort then." Frank agreed mostly to shut Alice up.

"Merlin, once I mention education you're suddenly on board. You Ravenclaws are so weird." Alice proclaimed.

Frank rather than argue, knowing Alice would only prove to insult him more, instead decided to take the higher road and set about directing them to make a fort.

"Where do you want to make this fort then?" He asked.

"The living room." Alice answered at once. "Probably one your mother doesn't frequent, parents get all uppity when you turn their nice furniture into fort structures."

"You speak from personal experience, don't you?" Frank asked. "We should go to the third floor one then, mother hates that one."

"Not my own parents, but my friend Dorcas' parents were kind of crossed when they walked into their house after a date and found us and her younger brother under this massive fort blasting the wireless." Alice explained following Frank up the stairs. "One time we made a fort in the Common Room and McGonagall walked in and gave us a detention."

"You're really into forts, huh?" Frank asked.

"They're more private." Alice said with a shrug. "No one bothers you when you're in a fort. It's like a fortress of solitude."

"Pun intended?" Frank remarked.

"What? I don't-oh. I am so accidentally clever." Alice proclaimed, making Frank laugh.

What Alice failed to mention, of course, as she typically did, was that she often built forts when she was upset. The fort they had built in the Gryffindor Common Room was built because her boyfriend had broken up with her, one Alice had actually properly liked this time, and she hadn't wanted to face the rest of the world. Her making forts, in fact, were an induction of friendship, making a fort with someone was a way of letting them in. She was thus slightly surprised at herself for suggesting to make a fort with Frank, but she felt no qualms about the idea. Frank looked like an excellent fort builder, after all.

Upon arrival Alice surveyed the room taking note of the various furniture and blankets that could come to use within the fort. She was quite pleased with Frank's choice, even if he was less than thrilled about building a fort; he seemed to have a knack for it.

"This will do quite nicely." Alice declared after a few seconds nodding to herself. "Good pick, Frank."

"I try." Frank remarked.

"All right then, we ought to get started. You drag that couch over by that one, no magic that's cheating, and I'll go collect the cushions off the window seat." Alice instructed, gesturing to the couches as she spoke.

Frank saluted, rolled up his sleeves, and set to work, trying to be as quiet as possible. Alice returned with the cushions and surveyed his work.

"Good. Good. Nice base working, take those cushions and put them there, yeah? A blanket here and, yes. Quite nice." Alice remarked, moving about and examining the growing fort.

They worked, Alice giving occasional directions and affirmations, Franks, despite it all, enjoying himself. In the end they ended with a top notch fort, one that met Alice's high standards.

"This will do nicely." Alice said at last, taking a step back and admiring their handiwork.

"Now what?" Frank asked, now in unfamiliar territory.

"We get inside." Alice said as if it were obvious.

Frank followed her inside and found to his surprise that there was enough room to lay down and stretch out. He and Alice laid parallel to each other, staring up at the blanket ceiling.

"See, private." Alice said.

"I'll give you that." Frank replied; Alice smiled victoriously.

"Thank you." She said. "Right, now we play the Question Game."

"What?" Frank asked.

"You didn't think I would have use build a fort and then have nothing to do from there." Alice proclaimed. "So we play the Question Game, a fort classic."

"I don't know what that is." Frank replied.

"All right, so basically one of us asks a question and we both have to answer." Alice explained. "I'll start."

"Am I going to like this game?" Frank asked apprehensively.

"It's fun." Alice assured him. "It's even better because we don't really have preconceived notions about each other, so if you say something bad I can't be like 'What! Frank! How could you?' for all I know that's just the kind of person you are."

"Comforting." Frank remarked wryly.

"You'll enjoy it." Alice assured. "Right, so, I'm starting, which means you answer first then I'll answer then it's your turn and I answer first and so on. Got it?"

"I've got the basic idea." Frank replied. "Ask away."

"All right." Alice said, mulling over what to ask. "Oh! Okay, something about you that no one else, or a t least very little people know."

Frank looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't have to be bad. Just something no one knows." Alice told him. "I mean, for all I know you could secretly have a fish name Tulip. It could be _anything._"

"You caught me; I have a secret collection of fish named after flowers." Frank replied, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Be serious." Alice ordered.

"You started it." Frank bickered. "Fine, something no one else knows?"

"Or at least, something very few people know, like if one or two other people know it's fine." Alice explained once again.

"All right." Frank said mulling it over. "Well, people assume I'm naturally smart, right? I get all these good grades and they think it's effortless but I study almost nonstop."

"Nerd." Alice proclaimed with a laugh.

"You have to have good grades if you want to be an auror." Frank pointed out. "Which I do."

"Don't remind me." Alice groaned. "McGonagall told me the same thing last year after that career conference the teacher's do, but I'm just not _good _at studying and I'm no James Potter. She told me maybe I should consider some other positions instead."

"You want to be an auror?" Frank asked surprised.

"Ideally." Alice replied. "It all depends on my OWL scores, though."

"I remember that feeling. I was certain that I had failed my DADA OWL." Frank remarked sympathetically.

"I'm pretty sure I failed them _all_." Alice said with a laugh. "I studied for three months before those stupid exams. Dorcas thought there was something wrong with me… Anyways it's my turn isn't it?"

"I believe so." Frank replied.

"Right. I have a brilliant one for this." Alice proclaimed. "I smoke."

"What?" Frank asked.

"Smoke. You know, cigarettes." Alice elaborated.

"I know what you meant." Frank clarified with a roll of his eyes. "I just hadn't been expecting it."

"It's not really a secret, you know, except from my parents because they'd be cross, just no one really knows. People are always shocked when they find out though, because I'm not the sort to smoke I suppose." Alice said.

"I'd expect from James Potter or Sirius Black maybe, but I definitely hadn't been expecting that." Frank agreed. "How do you even get cigarettes? You're underage."

"They do smoke." Alice said with a laugh. "I think I got James addicted actually, but that's another story. I started when I was over my friend Aurora's house last summer; she's a muggle-born and her mother smokes, so we took some one day to try it. It's easier to get the muggle ones though because you only have to be sixteen before my birthday though I could just bewitch a piece of paper, but the wizard ones have little cards, like chocolate frog cards but cooler."

"I used to collect chocolate frog cards." Frank mused.

"Me too. Now I collect cigarette cards?" Alice said. "Chocolate frog cards are a gate way drug, really."

Frank laughed.

"How often do you smoke then?" He asked conversationally.

"Not that much. I haven't smoked since I got here, which is kind of killing me actually, I don't smoke a pack a day or anything like that though." Alice answered. "I think a pack lasts me somewhere from two to three weeks, but Aurora always bums my cigs."

"Ever think of quitting?" Frank inquired.

"Not until now." Alice replied, blinking in surprise. "It's your turn."

"It is." Frank agreed, pausing to think of something. "All right, biggest fear."

"Fear as in fear of heights or fear as in dying alone?" Alice clarified.

"The fear of dying alone sort." Frank decided.

"All right, ask me again in about two months and it'll be different, but at the moment it's not making it as an auror." Alice answered, weighing out her prominent fears. "I'll feel a bit better after I get my OWLs but it's going to be a pretty big one for the next few years."

"Minus the OWLs bit mine's the same." Frank said.

Alice lifted up her hand and they high-fived.

"I bet we'll be brilliant aurors." Alice decided.

"They better not send you out when it's raining though, you might get distracted and play in the puddles." Frank teased making Alice laugh.

"But imagine what amazing forts we can make with desks and cubicles!" She declared.

"I'm getting the feeling your cubicle will be the easiest to find." Frank remarked.

"All right, all right. Bring it in. We're still playing a game." Alice declared fighting down laughter. "Favourite class at Hogwarts?"

"Herbology." Frank said at once.

"You're so weird." Alice told him. "No one likes Herbology."

"That's not true." Frank argued. "I like Herbology."

"No one normal likes Herbology." Alice revised. "Better?"

"Plenty of people like Herbology." Frank bickered.

"Name five." Alice demanded.

"Well, Professor Sprout for one, me, that's two. I imagine Elladora Ketteridge was quite fond of Herbology herself. Beaumont Marjoribanks as well. Then there's Phyllida Spore, of course. That's five right there." Frank said, counting off on his finger.

"Name someone who isn't _old._" Alice revised.

"I'm not old!" Frank exclaimed.

"Are you sure?" Alice asked doubtfully. "It's kind of like you're an old man living in a young man's body. Do you have some Dorian Gray thing going on?"

"I don't know what that means." Frank replied. "But I'm not old. I'm only a year older than you!"

"You didn't want to play in puddles." Alice pointed out.

"That just means I'm mature. There's a difference." Frank replied.

"You thought forts were childish. Only old people think forts are childish." Alice continued.

"I disagree. Almost everyone thinks forts are childish." Frank said. "You are just stating things mature people believe not necessarily old people."

"You wear suspenders. Only old people wear suspenders. Do you know when suspenders were popular, Frank? In the early 1900s. Face it, you're old." Alice continued. "Wizards don't even _wear _suspenders Frank. You're so old you just wear random items of clothing and pretend it's normal. Everyone lets you because, I mean, you're old, you're losing your mind, it's okay, but we all think it's weird."

"Lots of people wear suspenders!" Frank argued.

"Maybe in you 'old chaps who wear suspenders' club, I can see that, but here in the real world no one wears suspenders." Alice replied. "Actually, my grandfather wears suspenders. Maybe he's in your club? Do you know him? He often wears ducky slippers with his suspenders. I bet you guys sit around in your suspenders and talk about the olden days."

"Your grandfather and I served in the war together; actually, we reminisce about when Grindewald was trying to come to power. That's when he met your grandmother, you know, she was a healer helping out and the rest was history." Frank said, giving up and going along with it. "He stole the ducky slippers from me though, that was my signature style. I'm sorry to tell you this Alice, but your grandfather is a copycat."

"That's actually how they met..." Alice said, eyes widening. "How do you know that?"

"I told you, I served with him, I was there." Frank repeated. "I found the Fountain of Youth a few years back and my son agreed to pretend I was his son to keep it a secret. I actually went to school with Dumbledore; he used to be ginger you know."

"But how did you know?" Alice asked again, thoroughly freaked out now.

"I've already told you. Kids today, they never listen. Must be from all that music they play on those record machines, too loud in my opinion." Frank continued.

"Frank Longbottom, you stop it right now." Alice ordered.

Frank burst into laughter, clutching his stomach. His laughter became quieter, laughing so hard he could no longer breath, producing nothing but the occasional wheeze. He was almost done when he looked at Alice's face, a combination of confusion and annoyance splayed across it, and burst into laughter again. His stomach began to hurt, but he continued to laugh.

"Are you quite finished?" Alice asked crossly. "I'd like to know how you knew that."

"I told you." Frank wheezed out. "I'm secretly old."

"I know you're not." Alice disagreed.

"How'd I know then?" Frank asked, laughter subsiding.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know." Alice replied.

"I wear suspenders though, and don't like playing in puddles, I must be old." Frank argued.

Alice did not appear amused.

"All right, all right. I'm done." Frank said. "You still have to say your favorite subject, by the way."

"Transfiguration." Alice said at once.

"Not very original." Frank observed.

"It's better than Herbology." Alice pointed out. "Normal people like Transfiguration, only weird stalkers who know how other people's grandparents met like Herbology."

"Bit fixated on that, aren't we?" Frank said.

"I think any normal person would be." Alice replied.

"It's my turn, anyways." Frank observed, ignoring Alice's remark. "Best friend?"

"You want me to tell you my best friend?" Alice asked.

"That is how the game goes, isn't it?" Frank replied.

"I can't pick a best friend! That's like asking me to pick which arm I like better." Alice exclaimed.

"Right. It's my wand arm." Frank said. "Everyone has a favorite arm."

"Left." Alice agreed reluctantly, Frank raised an eyebrow in question. "I have this freckle on my left arm; I am very fond of it."

"You're fond of a freckle?" Frank asked disbelievingly.

"It's a cute freckle." Alice explained. "See."

Alice sat up and turned her arm over, placing it near Frank's face.

"It's right there." She said pointing to the freckle.

Frank looked at the freckle patronizingly. It was a normal freckle, brown, circular, standing off against his arm, but it was cute, he could not fault her that, she had somehow managed to produce a cute freckle, something Frank had never though imaginable.

"I'll give you that." He said reluctantly.

Alice beamed.

"You still owe me your best friend though." He pointed out.

"Oh. Well bother, I really don't know." Alice said, trying to think it over. "I have three really close friends and I don't think I can choose between them."

"I'll take it." Frank replied. "I'm much the same way, I've got two best mates, I couldn't pick one over the other."

"Then why'd you even ask?" Alice asked with a laugh.

Frank shrugged by way of explanation.

"I didn't have a better question." He finally said.

"Fair enough." Alice allowed. "How did you know about my grandparents?"

"I don't think that's a question both of us can answer." Frank retorted.

"Sure it is." Alice argued. "I can tell you how I knew about my grandparents and you can tell me how you know about your grandparents."

"Sounds like you're stretching the rules of the game a bit." Frank pointed out.

"It's my game."

"Fine, fine. If you want no element of mystery in your life then I'll tell you." Frank gave in. "It's not some big thing, my grandfather served in the war and he once told me the story of one of his fellow troop mates, Fawley as it were, I just took a shot that this Fawley was the grandfather you were talking about."

Alice narrowed her eyes as if analyzing whether this story held up or not, and decided it was good enough.

"I'll take it." She decided. "I found out from my grandmother, obviously, who loved to tell the story. My grandfather was betrothed to a Black, you know in that marriage ritual we had, and he dropped her for my grandmother, who was luckily a pureblood so his parents didn't really object. The Blacks hated us ever since though. I think they were glad to see us go."

"Which Black was it?" Frank inquired.

"I'm rubbish at names." Alice prefaced. "I think it was Cassiopeia though? Something odd like that. The Blacks always have the weirdest names."

"She never married." Frank said with a laugh. "I know most of the family trees pretty well and she's still alone, no longer the Blacks always resented you."

"Awkward." Alice said, feeling slightly bad for this Cassiopeia. "I think they threw a ball the day we left, honestly."

"I think I went to that ball…" Frank replied making Alice laugh. "Really though, they had a ball after the line was drawn and the Longbottoms hadn't made their decision yet. The mother got in a huge fight with Druella Black about rights and that just about settled it."

"I was really peeved when we left society." Alice remembered with a laugh. "I mean, I agreed that the blood purity bit was getting a tad ridiculous and the Knights of Walpurgis were bad, in the way an eleven year old can, but I'd have come out last summer, and I never got to."

"I was relieved I didn't have to deal with picking someone out." Frank said laughing himself. "I remember looking on it with dread, I was pretty glad when I found out I wouldn't have to. My mother, on the other hand, seems less than thrilled I am no longer required to by society."

"It's different for guys though! You guys just have to pick a girl, girls get to go to all these events, be doted on, wear pretty dresses. At the time I didn't really understand the whole engagement bit, but my sister had debuted that summer and I remember I was so excited for mine. " Alice explained. "The war had just started a year ago though and tensions were high and the Fawleys were one of the first to leave, after the Prewitts. Bernice never even finished her season."

"But now you don't have to marry some pureblood ponce." Frank pointed out.

"That is the upside to missing it; I will miss the opportunity for the pretty dresses though." Alice replied with a laugh. "In another reality we might have gotten married."

"What?" Frank asked, startled.

"I only mean, we're both purebloods and you'd have been starting your 'shopping for a wife', it might have ended up us getting married." Alice explained. "Imagine how that would have been, I'd be married to a man who is secretly one hundred and thirty odd years old."

"This sounds like a horrifying alternate reality." Frank observed. "I would have come home from a long day of being an auror and there would be forts all over my house."

"Merlin, I wouldn't have even have had the opportunity to become an auror." Alice realized with surprise. "Unless if I had somehow managed to get a husband who'd have let me have a career."

"I think I'd let my wife have a career." Frank thought aloud. "I'd be a bit worried if she was an auror, certainly, but I also don't think I'd deny her if she wanted to actually make something of herself."

"Awfully forward of you for a pureblood boy." Alice teased.

"Well if it's between having a career and coming home to forts littering all the living rooms, sitting rooms, and so forth in my house, I would certainly prefer her to have a career." Frank observed.

"You forgot the bedrooms." Alice pointed out.

"Pardon?" Frank asked.

"It's only; if I was home all day with nothing to do I would certainly make forts in the bedroom." Alice explained.

"Yet you call me weird." Frank teased.

"I've just realized." Alice thought aloud. "The year I was meant to debut, last summer, instead of debuting I started smoking. If we'd never defected I might not smoke today. Which means James Potter and Sirius Black would never smoke. In fact if I we hadn't defected we wouldn't be sitting here today. Funny how that works, isn't it?"

"Unless if we were to be married." Frank reminded. "Then we still might be sitting here."

"Unless if we were to be married." Alice agreed with a laugh. "It's so weird how different life would have been though."

"I'd have liked the you not smoking bit, though. Everything can stay the same but the non-smoker bit is appealing." Frank said.

"Not fond of me being a smoker?" Alice asked eyebrow raised.

"Not fond of smoking in general." Frank replied. "I don't imagine your boyfriend is either. Not only does it smell bad but I don't think I'd fancy kissing a girl who smoked, kind of like kissing a chimney, don't you think?"

"I hadn't thought of it." Alice said with a shrug. "I've gotten no complaints about tasting like a chimney in any case."

"I suppose more people would know you smoked if you did."

"Why does it matter if I smoke anyways? Unless if you plan on kissing me, that is." Alice teased.

"Only if we were meant to be married." Frank joked.

"In that reality though I wouldn't be a smoker though, remember?" Alice pointed out.

"True." Frank agreed. "I don't much fancy kissing you in any case; I'm just not too fond of smoking."

"That's good." Alice said. "I'm not too fond of kissing old men. I'm not that into cradle robbers, as it were."

* * *

The rain stopped, at last, to everyone's relief, and life went back to normal. They had meals besides soup, to Bernice's great enjoyment, they were able to leave the house again without becoming soaking wet and, to Alice's great joy, it was finally nice enough to have a picnic.

She had waited a day or two for everything to dry, she was not fond of having to wade through mud, before she packed up a picnic with various foods she had gotten the house elves to make for her, a blanket, which she may have stolen from the foot of her bed. She set out on the all too familiar path to the Longbottom Estate, whistling as she went.

When she arrived at the estate a house elf, the same one as before Alice noted, let her in and she waited in the designated sitting room. She sat on the couch, one she noted would not have been a very sturdy wall for their fort, and waited for Frank to arrive. She realized, then, that she had somehow managed to miss meeting Frank's mother, Mrs. Longbottom as it were, in the handful of times that she had dropped by. It was curious to her, as it seemed her mother always was about their home, and had managed to meet every one of her friends when they were over.

So where was Mrs. Longbottom? Alice's curiosity took over, something she regretfully had no control over, and she got up, intent on exploring this estate top to bottom until she met this elusive woman. She was also relatively curious about the setup of the Longbottom estate, if she was being honest with herself.

She was heading stealthily towards the door across the room, which surely lead to some secret hallway which would bring her to a plethora of wonders, pureblood homes always had wonders. For some reason she felt as though she ought to move about as inconspicuously as possible, as though she could be caught at a moment's notice, which was a ridiculous idea given the fact that no one would be about the house but Frank and his mother, and a couple of house elves. She knew for a fact that Frank would be making his way to this room, down the staircase that connected to the main foyer she had entered in, so she only ran the risk of running into Mrs. Longbottom.

Which was what she wanted in the first place. There was no way to fail or get caught, but still Alice moved as though she were delivering a national secret.

She reached the door across the room, a beautiful door, she noted, which meant what was behind it could only be more spectacular, and began to open it carefully, as quiet as she could. She attempted to position herself just so, giving her a view of the hallway that awaited her behind the door. She would stop opening it once there was a large enough gap for her to fit through, which would not take very long, so she could slide in and close entirely undetected.

Her head was between the door and the frame, beholding the hallway which held host to floor to ceiling windows that let the sunlight in perfectly, basking the hall in a warm glow. There were doors lining the hallway on the opposite side and Alice wondered where they all might go. Between the doors were the occasional flowers and artwork, which was typical of any pureblood home. Alice could not see the end of the hallway however, as it turned at just the wrong angle, making it seem as though it stretched on forever.

She had to walk in that hallway.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked, making her jump.

Alice whirled around to find a bemused Frank looking at her.

"It's rude to snoop in other people's houses, you know." He remarked making Alice blush.

"I was only curious." She defended.

"Well that makes it perfectly all right then." Frank remarked sarcastically.

Alice shrugged, having no better defense for her actions besides her suspicion of the lack of his mother's presence in the household. She was not sure she could bring up this oddity without somehow implying Frank had murdered his mother, so she decided to keep that explanation to herself.

Except she didn't.

"I was only concerned because I have yet to meet your mother." She said despite herself. "Haven't killed her, have you?"

"She's been busy." Frank said tightly.

"Suspicious." Alice replied.

"I don't want to get into it." Frank tried again.

"Secretive." Alice remarked.

"I'd really rather we discuss something different." Frank all but ordered.

"Not really dissuading me from the 'murdered your mother' theory there." Alice joked.

Frank stared at her as if imploring her to drop the topic already.

"All right, all right." Alice proclaimed, holding up her hands in a sign of peace. "I don't have any qualms hanging out with someone guilty of matricide anyhow."

"Are you just here to accuse me of murder or was there a purpose to this visit?" Frank inquires raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! I've almost entirely forgotten!" Alice declared, abandoning the door and heading back towards the couch. "I'm always doing that, really, d'you suppose I ought to get a rememberall? Mother got me one once but I think I forgot where I put it. Ironic, innit?"

"Alice Fawley you are a wonderful case study for the irregularity in human behavior." Frank observed.

"Pardon?" Alice asked confused, breaking her monologue.

"It's only, your own self-profession of a horrible memory and almost near capability to function on any sort of normal brain pattern." Frank attempted to explain.

"Are you insulting me?" Alice asked, still confused. "I honestly don't know what you're on about. Is this some Ravenclaw thing?"

"It's endearing, really." Frank continued. "I imagine your brain is a very interesting place to be."

"It is." Alice agreed. "I imagine yours is very boring."

"You can never turn down a chance to call me boring, can you?" Frank asked laughing. "If I'm so boring why do you insist on hanging out with me?"

"That's simple, Frank. Your boring provides a perfect spring board for my interesting." Alice explained. "When I hang out with other interesting people they want to follow their own ideas of fun, but I find you are pretty all right with anything I decide we ought to do. I feel this arrangement works quite well for the both of us."

"You haven't led us astray yet." Frank said with a shrug.

"See! Our personalities are just compatible, I can be quirky as I want and you can be as witty as you want, and neither of us can fully understand what the other is on about so we don't squabble about what to do." Alice exclaimed. "Which brings me to what we're doing today."

"Which is?" Frank asked.

"You promised me a picnic." Alice informed him. "I am cashing in on that promise."

"_When_?" Frank asked.

"Today, obviously." Alice replied looking at Frank as if he were slow.

"I meant, when did I promise that?" Frank explained.

"When you were distracted by the weather and I was playing at the fountain." Alice answered at once.

"You mean playing _in _the fountain." Frank corrected.

"No, this was before that." Alice argued.

"I have no memory of this."

"Yet people say I have horrible memory. At least I remember my promises." Alice said.

"You say you have a horrible memory." Frank pointed out.

"True." Alice agreed. "In any case, you promised and I'm holding you to that. So get your shoes Frank, we're going on a picnic."

"All right." Frank said. "Beats sitting around here all day."

Alice smiled, as if Frank had reaffirmed her point, and grabbed the picnic basket, looking forward to entering the small park once again.


	4. Chapter Three

It was a pivotal moment. It would be the moment that affected the rest of her life. It had been at the back of her head since her exams and now it was sitting there. Perfectly packaged in a letter, her name printed and impersonal, the Ministry seal kept the letter together at the back. She couldn't open it. If she opened it and she hadn't done well, and she expected she hadn't, then she could never be an auror. She looked apprehensively at the letter before shoving it in her bag and slipping on a pair of sandals. She would make Frank open it.

She made the trek to the Longbottom Estate, one she could do in her sleep now she frequented the home so often, nerves outweighing every other thought that popped in her head. All she could think of was that square letter in the bottom of her bag, it seemed to radiate. She was aware of its presence every step she took. It was there, passing grades or failing, she had never been more afraid in her life.

She arrived at the estate shortly, it was a small town after all, and knocked on the door as she tended to do. The same house elf opened the door as always, the one Alice kept meaning to learn the name of but never managed to for whatever reason.

"May I see Frank Longbottom?" She asked politely.

"The Longbottoms are all out Miss Alice." The house elf answered. "May I take a message?"

"No, no. Just tell Frank I stopped by when they got back, please." Alice said eyebrows furrowing.

Where were they? She had noted his mother absence before, but every time she had stopped by the Longbottom estate Frank always seemed to be home, though he had been the one coming over more often lately. She hadn't thought of the fact that Frank might be out. Her day seemed weirdly empty without him. She began her way back to the Macmillan estate and only then just remembered the letter sitting at the bottom of her bag, ominous and foreboding.

She couldn't open it without Frank, it seemed wrong almost, she wasn't even positive she could open it in the first place. She'd have to find another way to occupy herself, she supposed, until they got back from wherever they were. Where had they gotten off to though?

* * *

Frank had woken up early that morning and gotten ready. His father's health had been deteriorating and so they were spending one last big final day out together, before his father wouldn't be able to go out anymore.

They'd gone to the museum, per his father's request, and Frank found himself staring at one of the paintings that adorned the walls. It depicted one of the famous Goblin Wars that Frank had tuned out in History of Magic, one of the only OWLs he hadn't passed and the only one his mother hadn't expected him to, and Frank couldn't help but wonder how mundane it must be to be in a painting, portraying the same scene over and over again.

Albeit not sentient to the point of being living human being the paintings possessed a sort of remnant of the person they depicted in them. It must be a great bore, therefore, to have to relive the same moments for the rest of time for a museum. Frank supposed that if he was ever made into a painting he would rather not be depicted in a battle.

The museum, at least the art portion, was always amusing in that the paintings were never exactly the same. They often kept to their own era but it was not unheard of to find a wizard from the thirteenth century in one of the more recent portraits. It was just so in the painting Frank was staring at, although depicting an ancient Goblin War, Grindewald, from the painting of the final battle of Grindewald and Dumbledore that was in the newer wings, had wandered his way in and was directing the goblins on what to do.

"What are you thinking then Frank?" Mr. Longbottom asked rolling up to his son.

Mr. Longbottom had been confined to a wheelchair when his legs had failed him, there was only so much magic could do after all, and while he could control the wheelchair with his magic and therefore did not have to pushed about it was odd to Frank to have to look down on his father when for most of his childhood he had cut such a tall figure.

"I suppose I'm wondering if Grindewald was a really big history fan." Frank mused aloud. "Or perhaps he is trying to approve on history?"

Mr. Longbottom laughed, it was a grating sound, weaker than it had once been, and it more often than not subsided into a short spurt of coughs.

"It's certainly not something that comes up in the history books." Mr. Longbottom replied. "Say, is Professor Binns still teaching History of Magic?"

"He died a few years ago." Frank answered. "He's still teaching though. I remember in the middle of second year one day he showed up to class and kept droning on, but he was a ghost. I don't know if he's even noticed."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't." Mr. Longbottom said with a laugh.

"Where did mother get off to?" Frank asked, noting his mother's absence which was odd since she rarely left her husband's side.

"She's always hated the Goblin Wars." Mr. Longbottom answered. "I believe she's in the next exhibit. I'm quite fond of these paintings though."

"A secret Goblin War lover? Don't tell mother, she'll never forgive you." Frank joked.

"It's more a secret love for the artist." Mr. Longbottom replied. "Delaware Longbottom painted most of these paintings. She was one of the first female painters, or at least one of the most prominent ones. She was also one of the first pureblood women to make a name for herself outside of her husband."

"Ah, family history, my favorite." Frank said wryly.

"I'm quite fond of the technique as well." Mr. Longbottom admitted. "I'd like the paintings even if they weren't a Longbottom; you have to admit she had a gift."

Frank looked at the painting and a few others in the area, properly looked at it, and he had to admit it was good. It was no wonder Delaware Longbottom was a prominent name in his family, if less discussed in the more traditional circles; she had been good at what she had done.

"I'll give you that one." He conceded. "Do you suppose mother is admiring the seventeenth century tapestries?"

"It is her favorite part of the museum." Mr. Longbottom mused smiling softly to himself as if remembering an earlier time. "We better go find her I suppose."

"She can wait a bit." Frank said waving his father off. "I think you deserve one last proper look."

They stood in silence for a few minutes, admiring the various paintings that adorned the walls in the exhibit, occasionally Mr. Longbottom would comment on a fact from the time period or point out a certain brush stroke he admired. He had been an artist in his younger years; nowhere near the levels of his ancestors, perhaps, but a fair number of his own paintings and sketches adorned the walls of Longbottom estates and various other pureblood ones. In his younger years he had been fond of coming to the museum and sketching the paintings, a difficult feat when they were constantly moving.

"Archibald." Mrs. Longbottom called, walking into the room. "Do you fancy seeing any of the other exhibits in the museum?"

"I'd perfectly all right sitting here all day." Mr. Longbottom teased. "I suppose we can carry on though. Frank, I'm beginning to feel tired would you mind pushing your father about for a bit?"

"Not at all, father." Frank said smiling at his parents and grasping the handles on the back of his father's wheelchair. "Where to next?"

"I think I'd like to see the tapestries." Mr. Longbottom mused grasping his wife's hand briefly at a memory long since passed.

Frank groaned to himself, the tapestries were his least favorite part of the museum easily, but he respected his parents' admiration of them. His mother was fond of tapestries as it was, there were plenty in various homes, but the tapestries in the museum was when they had first properly met. He had heard the story time and again. Before his mother's debut all those years ago she had been visiting the museum with her friends and his father happened to be working on one of his sketches.

He had been taking a break from one of the exhibits and had taken to wandering the museum, appreciating the beauty, when he had run into Mrs. Longbottom who had been admiring the tapestry. The rest, as they say, was history. It was thus that Frank give his father a kiss on the head, his mother one on the cheek, and made himself scarce so they could say goodbye properly to the place where their story had begun.

Hands in pockets Frank wandered through the art work and memorabilia from the witch trials. It was a turning point in wizarding history and it therefore was one of the largest exhibits in the museum. It was also one of the darkest ones, paintings of mass homicides, even one of the stakes that one of the most famous wizards of the time, Petyr Dagwood a wizard almost every wizarding child knew due to his prevalence in the trials, was present in the museum. It was creepy walking through this section of the museum, Frank remembered being terrified of it as a child, and although less scary now that it was older he could still appreciate the amount of terror and horror that had been constant during the time.

The museum had done a great job, certainly, at expressing how horrible a time it had been. It also had a double meaning, a propaganda of sorts, as a constant reminder to wizarding kind about what happened when they had tried to live in peace with muggles, and why the secrecy laws were so important now.

He stopped in front of the stake, one could almost smell the fire and burning flesh if they looked at it long enough, and was trying to imagine what it was like during that time, to live in such fear. It wasn't hard, considering that the sort of terror that had grasped the populace then was beginning to grab its hold around society now, but Frank felt as though it would never get as bad as this time had been. The cells, some still constructed, sat at the end of the exhibit and Frank recalled climbing in them as a child, it had been permitted back then though now it was off limits, the terror that had gripped him in those moments had stayed with him, it had seemed so real. He couldn't imagine this war being as horrifying as that moment had been.

He glanced around the exhibit once more and wondered what it would be like in a few years, when this wizarding war was over. Would there be an exhibit for that as well here? It seemed inevitable, this museum was the cornerstone of wizarding history, if it was big enough, vital enough, and it seemed as though it might be, then it would certainly make his mark.

Frank wondered in a few years what would show up in the exhibit. The death eaters? Would Dumbledore make another appearance? Voldemort would certainly be a big part of the exhibit. It depended, he supposed, on who the winner would be, and if he had any say about it, which he was positive he would, then it would not be Voldemort's side. If Voldemort won then this sort of tragedy, the tragedy he was staring at now, cells and burning people at the stake, would happen again, only with muggles.

Frank didn't want to live in that sort of world.

"You always end up here." Mr. Longbottom interrupted Frank's thoughts. "I remember when we brought you here when you were seven and you stayed her for hours."

"I was terrified of this exhibit when I was seven." Frank said with a laugh.

"You were always most fascinated by the things that terrified you." Mrs. Longbottom observed with a hint of pride in her voice. "That's why you'll make a great auror."

"Circe willing." Frank agreed. "I was just thinking, years from now there will be an exhibit on this war. It's weird, isn't it? Having your life becomes a part of history?"

"You have no idea." Mr. Longbottom said with a laugh. "I remember the times when Grindewald was at large and now it's just something you learn in school."

"We just have to hope this war will turn out as favorably as the last." Mrs. Longbottom observed, as practical as ever.

"It will." Frank said decidedly to his parents' astonishment.

"Will it?" Mr. Longbottom asked.

"I'll make sure it does." Frank declared smiling at his parents confidently.

"If anyone could do it it'd be you." Mr. Longbottom agreed. "Frank Longbottom, one of the most influential aurors of his age."

"I wish." Frank remarked.

"We know you will be." Mrs. Longbottom said as if this set the future. "You have the brains and the skills."

"Well, it's certainly great to have parents who support me." Frank observed, teasing slightly. "Even if you push me to be the very best."

"If you can achieve it, you should. We don't want you to be one of those slacker pureblood kids who rely on his family's money. We'd like you to make something of yourself." Mrs. Longbottom said.

"I think that's what makes you one of the best parents a child could ask for." Frank observed. "If you didn't push me I don't know if I could ever have been so successful in school. I'm sure later in life I'll appreciate it even more."

"That means we did our jobs." Mr. Longbottom said with a smile. "I'm just glad knowing that you will be something, something big."

Frank smiled at his father, a hint of sadness. He knew his father wouldn't be there to see him become anything great like they thought he'd be, if he was lucky his father would make it to his graduation, but even that seemed unlikely with his deteriorating health. That's why he had to do the best that he could now, while his father was still around to be proud of him, so his father would know he'd be all right, that he had down well as a father. Frank wanted his father to die knowing he had a raised a son to be proud of, one he wouldn't have to worry about when he passed.

He only hoped he had managed to live up to his father's expectations.

* * *

Alice lit up her cigarette and let out a sigh of relief. It had been over a month since her last cigarette, horrible to think about when she looked back at the span of time, and she had finally managed to sneak out and have a proper smoke. It was helping to relieve some of the nervous energy she had been feeling all day as a result of the letter.

She was staring at it now, trying to gleam some sort of answer through the thick envelope, but it was a futile measure. She wondered where Frank had gotten off to, his continued absence seemed even odder the longer it lasted, and she realized for the first time that she missed him. Good and properly missed him. She could not think of a time when he hadn't be ever present in her life, it seemed they had known each other forever even if it had been only a month.

Typically, he was not there when she needed him most however.

She had intercepted the Ministry owl before her parents had seen it so there had been no questions about results; she had been left in peace to allow her nerves to wash over her. She stared apprehensively at the envelope once more even though she held no intention of opening it. How odd it was that one piece of paper could hold such weight and effect on the rest of her life.

Alice took another drag. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Frank and his parents lunched in one of the cafes in the museum, it was a cute little place overlooking a wonderful view of the surrounding city and wilderness. The meal was delicious, albeit slightly expensive as was to be expected, and completely worth it. Frank smiled to himself as his father chatted about another one of the famous artists displayed here. He would miss these talks, his father's passion, in the years to come, but at least he could appreciate it and spend time with him now.

After lunch they went to visit some of the other exhibits. His father was beginning to get rather exhausted, as he was apt to do on long trips out of the house nowadays, and Mrs. Longbottom and Frank were perfectly all right with packing up and going home so he could get some much needed rest, but there was one last thing Mr. Longbottom insisted upon doing.

They stopped in one of the exhibits from the nineteenth century which housed some of the first proper photographs taken by wizards. It wasn't a special exhibit by any means, Frank didn't recognize it from any of their many visits nor from any of his parents various stories about the museum, and yet his father seemed insistent upon stopping there.

He stopped directly in front of a girl, not necessarily exceptional in anyway, and a boy. The girl was around eight or nine perhaps and the boy a few years older. In the few seconds the photo had captured she twirled past the boy before falling suddenly, the picture cut on her laughing face. The boy stood relatively still during the ordeal, a forced look of disapproval at the girl before his face broke into a small smile at the second.

It wasn't an amazing portrait in anyway, it certainly didn't render any sort of feeling in Frank, but his father was looking up at it smiling serenely. He couldn't begin to fathom what sort of meaning this picture had to his father.

"Let me guess," Frank remarked dryly, "This was photographed by Kors-Cornelius Longbottom of his two children, Truman and Delilah. He wasn't well known in his time, but it's become a classic."

"Don't be a smart-arse, Frank." Mrs. Longbottom said, not an uncommon order to be heard in their family.

Mr. Longbottom couldn't help but laugh.

"No, it had no ties to our family at all." He replied. "I've just always liked this photograph."

Frank shrugged although he could see no reason why his father would like the photograph, as his father asked for his mother's bag. Mrs. Longbottom handed it over with a questioning look on her face. Frank and her watched as Mr. Longbottom opened the bag and began to search through it pulling out some paper, quill, and inkpot. He handed the bag back wordlessly as he set up his supplies comfortably.

"Archibald, you cannot just put art supplies in people's belongings without telling them." Mrs. Longbottom reproached half-sternly.

"My apologies Augusta, I seem to have grown rude in my old age." Mr. Longbottom apologized. "I have, however, always wanted to draw this photograph and it seems now may be my last chance."

Mrs. Longbottom and Frank shared a look over sorrow over his head, gone unnoticed by Mr. Longbottom who had begun sketching the photograph already.

"I suppose I must forgive you." Mrs. Longbottom said sighing dramatically.

There had been an odd change in the Longbottom household as Mr. Longbottom's health had slowly decreased; Mrs. Longbottom usually the sterner of the two had grown a tad kinder and joked a bit more, perhaps reverting to a younger version of herself. She seemed softer; although she would still give Frank a good taking to if he happened to step out of line, as he tended to accidentally do. Frank could not say he minded the change entirely, it was nice getting a little lee-way at times when he in the past wouldn't have, but it seemed as though it was the final sign that things had grown so much worse.

The change in the atmosphere of the home, it was sadder, quieter, more forgiving, as if every moment was fleeting and could be the last, had solidified the idea in Frank's mind that everything would not be all right. He had come to terms with the idea as best he could, it had certainly taken some adjusting to see his father as this smaller, frailer man when in the past he had seemed so strong and imperviable. It was odd to be disjointed out of the delusion that one's parents could live forever, as a child they seemed immortal, it was hard to imagine a time they would not be alive, and Frank was dealing with the idea that his father would soon be gone, nothing left but belongings and sketches, half remembered memories and his smell lingering over his favorite books, as best as anyone could.

He watched for a few moments as his father made lines on the paper, watching a sketch of the photograph form onto the page. His father had always been a good artist, even in his later years when he had stopped painting and had only taken to mindless sketching. There was a collection of sketches on various parchments in his study, half finished, and Frank wondered vaguely what would happen to them once his father was gone. Would his mother be able to even go into his study? Frank thought she just might, if any woman could get through being widowed it was Augusta Longbottom, strong, independent, and as hard as nails.

After a while Frank wandered through some of the photographs that graced the walls, never straying too far from his parents. His mother remained, seated on a nearby bench, chatting occasionally to his father as he worked. He kept his distance once more, wanting them to have as many moments together as possible, he felt his mother might need them when she would be alone at night in a few months' time, something fond to remember.

He was inspecting a curious photograph of a teenager, someone who was perhaps well known later in life, losing grasp of a balloon she was holding and jumping after it in the sky, missing it by a few seconds, when he heard a bout of coughing erupt from where his father was sitting. He turned around at once, a habit he had acquired over the summer at the inclination anything might be wrong, to see if his father was all right.

His father was wheezing and gasping for air, perhaps the lunch had not sit well with him, meals were becoming increasingly lighter and harder to keep down, and Frank rushed over at once. His mother was already leading him through the bout, breathing exercises they had been taught that could help ease the coughing, bottle of water in hand for when it seemed his coughing would subside a bit. Frank grasped his father's arm to keep him upright as he lurched forwards in his fit, the sketch he had been working on fluttered to the floor in the movement, half finished.

The coughing subsided, but Mr. Longbottom looked paler and worse for wear than he had than moments ago. He was drinking the water slowly, and Frank sorted through his mother's bag for the crackers that she kept on hand that were supposed to help ease the symptoms. Upon finding them he offered one to his father before collecting the fallen art supplies that had fallen on the floor.

"I think it might be time we go home." Mrs. Longbottom observed.

Frank nodded his agreement aware his father would be too exhausted if they stayed longer to use any of the approved methods of transportation home. He had already begun packing up their various things in preparation for the trip home.

"I suppose you're right." Mr. Longbottom wheezed out, his voice rough from the fit.

Mrs. Longbottom and Frank finished collecting their things, Frank ended up holding his father's half-finished sketch as his mother had not wanted it to get bent or wrinkled in her bag. Mr. Longbottom gave one last look at the portrait and smiled at it.

"Goodbye, old friend." He said, the words holding more weight and meaning than Frank thought he would ever be able to comprehend.

"Come on Archibald." Mrs. Longbottom said softly, her hand resting on her husband's shoulder.

Mr. Longbottom nodded and Frank handed the picture to his mother, taking it upon himself to push his father's wheelchair out of the museum. They waved goodbye to the security guards and ticket sellers at the front door and exited the mahogany doors. Mr. Longbottom smiled fondly at the large stairs that led the way up to the entrance. There were various families and people sitting on the stairs enjoying the setting sun. Frank made the way towards the ramp that was hidden a bit out of view wondering what sort of memories of earlier times were flitting through his father's mind.

* * *

When they had gotten home Frank took the various objects from the days excursion from his mother so she could help situate her husband in his study, the place he always liked to go to recuperate in peace. He sorted through them and placed them in the appropriate locations so his mother would be able to find them later.

After that had been sorted he found one of the house elves and told them what to make for dinner, something light that his father would be able to keep down, it was becomingly increasingly harder to keep his father nourished without managing to exaggerate his condition by having him erupt into a fit or get sick. Once the house elves had set about cooking Frank went to find his mother in her favorite sitting room, the one on the second floor that faced the backyard and allowed just the right amount of sunlight in during the day.

He caught her up with what he had already set into motion and she smiled appreciatively about him. They sat in silence for a bit, before Mrs. Longbottom broke the silence. They had a long talk about Mr. Longbottom and his worsening condition, the sort Frank was becoming increasingly more familiar with, Mrs. Longbottom mentioned that if he continued to get worse like this then it wouldn't be long now, but as the rest of the month would be spent in rest it was possible he might stay for a little longer. The tended to measure his father's life day to day now, but the both hoped he would make it at least until September. Frank wanted his father to be there to see him off to his seventh year, to know that his son would be all right, and Mrs. Longbottom hoped Frank would not be in the house when it occurred. The motherly part in her wanted to protect him from that.

The important thing to be gleaned from the talk was that they ought to treat every day like it might be the last, a hard concept to understand even when one is so near to death. It was hard even when death was plainly written on someone's face to accept that their time would be soon, the human race just seemed so infinite, it was odd, for Frank, to imagine a world with Mr. Longbottom, he could not begin to even fathom the idea, but he supposed soon he would.

Their discussion was cut short by the announcement of dinner and Frank went to his father's study to collect him so they could eat in the makeshift dining room they had set up in one of the nearby rooms. It was easiest in his father's condition to keep him in one wing of the house, and so they had set up the essentials all in one corridor of the house. His study had luckily always been on the first floor, branching off of the sitting room, and they had converted the rest of the rooms in the hallway to accommodate his needs.

They ate dinner peacefully in the make-shift dining room, discussing the day's events and talking about their favorite bits in the museum. After dinner Frank joined his father in the study and they sat in silence for a while, each reading their own literature. Frank was halfway through a book he had picked up the last time they had spent their time in the library, it focused mainly on Herbology, when his father mentioned he was beginning to feel tired.

He helped his father through the usual night time rituals, and sent a house-elf to tell his mother that his father was getting ready for bed. Mrs. Longbottom appeared shortly and finished up, dismissing Frank from the room. Frank went back to his father's study to tidy it up a bit, put the unused books away and declutter his desk, when he happened to glance at the calendar that sat on his father's desk and noted the date.

It nagged at him, as if something important happened on this date, something he had forgotten and could no longer remember. He shook the feeling, supposing perhaps that he was remembering they were meant to go to the museum today and had just dis-attached the two from his mind. He finished tidying up the study, grabbed the key that locked the door off the desk, locked it up, then placed the key underneath the plotted plant that sat on the table in the hall, where his father had always kept it.

He made his way up to his own room once his duties were taken care of, noting it was beginning to get quite late, and thought he might go over the homework he had done at the beginning of the summer and be sure he had done it all, and done it all correctly, when a house-elf, the one who was specifically in charge of letting in visitors and managing the cleaning affairs of the house politely stopped him.

The house-elf bore marks as if it had beaten itself over some transgression he had decided he had committed, and Frank furrowed his eyebrows at the little creature as it spoke to him, wondering why he had done such a thing. The reason became evident quickly. The house-elf, Nerry as it were, informed Frank that a Miss Alice Fawley had stopped by that morning, and in the dinner rush he had forgotten to inform him until now.

Frank stopped Nerry from harming himself again, he was always put off by the creatures' way of punishment, before heading back up to his room. He supposed she had only come by as she had been looking for something to do, but something nagged in the back of his mind. The date popped back into his head and he sat for a few moments on his bed trying to work the two pieces together into some sort of explanation. He was just about ready to dismiss it all as a coincidence when the reason why the date seemed so significant had come to him at last.

It was the day he had received his OWLs last year, wasn't it?

He felt like a horrible friend, Alice had probably come by excited to share her results, or perhaps in despair and he had been oddly absent all day. She would understand why, if he explained, but nonetheless he felt a strange need to go over there and make it right. It was an insane idea, pitch black out as it was and in the middle of the night, but it was his duty as a friend in a way.

He stopped at the ice cream parlor, which was open rather late during the summer months, hoping ice cream might help make up for his transgression and headed towards the Macmillan estate once they had been purchased.

* * *

Alice had tried to sleep, she had, but she couldn't without knowing what that stupid little envelope held. She still could not open it, it seemed almost taboo at this point as she had waited so long, but she had also been unable to shirk it from her thoughts all day. Occasionally she would wonder where exactly Frank had gotten off to. He had been gone for portions of the day before, mornings or having to leave by the afternoon, but he had never completely disappeared.

It was beginning to become worrying.

She had glanced at the clock a while ago and taken in the time. Perhaps Frank had gone to stay with one of his friends? She couldn't imagine him to be the sort to not return a house call as expediently as possible. The house-elf had said his whole family had been out though. It was all quite maddening to Alice, who had very few facts and a plethora of possibilities.

She had abandoned any fear at getting caught out smoking by her parents a while ago as the increased nervousness had overtaken her and she had lit a cigarette in her room. She had opened the window for good measure, so the smell would not necessarily stay, but if her father or mother happened to check on her and wonder why the light on her desk was on, it shined lowly through the crack in the door, she would be caught dead out.

She sat in the desk chair, letter from the Ministry unopened on the desk, staring at her and offering no answers to her many questions. Her feet were propped on the rubbish bin that was positioned next to the desk and the cigarette hung limply from her lips. Occasionally she would put down the book she was giving the pretense of reading, though not a single word had made it into her memory, and remove the cigarette to properly exhale.

She had just done this, and was in the middle of attempting to create the O smoke rings she had seen James performing right before the holidays when a loud pop went off suddenly, making her jump.

"Bloody hell!" She exclaimed, booking dropping to the floor and nearly dropping her cigarette.

She turned to the pop, brandishing her cigarette as if she could do some sort of serious damage with it, her wand was resting on the night stand on the other side of the room, and was surprised to find Frank standing there, two ice cream cones in hand.

"You'd really think the Macmillan's would have an anti-apparition charm on their house." He observed as if apparating into someone's bedroom was a normal occurrence to him.

Alice stared at him slack-jawed, at a loss for what to say.

"Sorry about turning up so late." Frank continued nonchalantly. "I was at the museum with my parents and Nerry only just told me you had come by. Then I remembered today was the day you get OWLs results back and I thought I ought to pop by. Literally, I suppose."

"Nerry?" Alice asked confused.

"The house-elf that answers the door." Frank answered.

"Oh." Alice said. "I always wondered what his name was."

Frank offered the ice cream to Alice quietly and she took it, looking at it as if it were a foreign substance. She took another drag from her cigarette.

"I'm sorry, what are you doing here?" Alice asked. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I've just said, I remembered you'd be getting your OWL results today and I wanted to know how you did." Frank repeated. "How did you do?"

"I'm just going to pretend this is normal." Alice decided.

"That's fair." Frank agreed. "Now that that's settled, your OWLs?"

Alice gestured to the unopened envelope on her desk wordlessly.

"I hadn't opened them yet."

"You've had them all day and you hadn't opened them?" Frank asked confused. "When I got mine I tore them open."

"I couldn't do it." Alice said with a shrug.

"You're smoking." Frank remarked noting the cigarette in her hand for the first time.

"I did tell you I do." Alice pointed out. "I can put it out."

Alice walked over to the desk and put the cigarette out in the mug she had been using as an ash tray. She dropped the cigarette next to the butt of another one.

"You've been smoking quite a bit." Frank observed.

"My third one today." Alice remarked taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "It's been a long day."

"It probably wouldn't have been as long if you had opened the envelope." Frank suggested, holding the envelope up.

"I told you I couldn't do it." Alice repeated licking her ice cream. "Good on you for getting mint."

"I took a guess. You seem like a mint ice cream person." Frank explained. "Do you want me to open it for you?"

"That would be preferable." Alice agreed. "Feel free to lie to me if I have failed, I won't mind."

Frank took a seat in the desk chair Alice had recently vacated and took a glance at the book that had fallen to the floor with a raised an eyebrow. At an impatient noise from Alice Frank slid his thumb through the top of the envelope and pulled the thin piece of paper out. He glanced at the paper before saying anything.

"I can't believe you called me a nerd when out of all the possible electives you picked the two that require the most work." He remarked.

"How many OWLs did you say you had?" Alice replied.

"Eleven." Frank answered. "I failed History of Magic, I hated that class."

Alice raised an eyebrow as if this proved her point.

"You're still fairly nerdy for taking the two hardest electives; you can't deny it's true." Frank added.

"Not to be rude, but can we discuss this when the fate of my life isn't relying on a few marks?" Alice asked a bit sharply.

"Ah, yes, my apologies I had forgotten you haven't seen them yet." Frank apologized looking at the OWLs again.

Alice looked at him expectantly.

"Right then, Ancient Runes you received an acceptable but you need an E to continue in that class." Frank began going down the list. "Arithmancy is an exceeds expectations."

"Not really the high pressure classes there." Alice remarked eating some of her ice cream. "Two OWLs so far even if one doesn't really count, at least I'm not a complete failure."

"Astronomy you have an outstanding?" Frank asked surprised. "How did you pull that off? I only got an Exceeds Expectations myself."

"I got an O?" Alice all but shrieked stopping herself from dancing in victory. "That is absolutely brilliant."

"I'm impressed." Frank commented.

"So am I." Alice agreed. "I'd been expecting an E at best."

"All right, quell your excitement. We're getting to the Auror related OWLs now." Frank warned making Alice sit back down, her nerves evident. "Charms, exceeds expectations."

"Thank Godric." Alice breathed. "That was pretty expected though. The worrisome ones are DADA and Potions."

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Frank read out holding Alice out in a moment of suspense. "Exceeds Expectations."

"I thought I had mucked it up and gotten an Acceptable this is the best news I have gotten all year." Alice declared feeling some stress lift off her shoulders. "You have just saved me the horrible fate of becoming a chain smoker."

"I'm not convinced you already aren't one." Frank remarked glancing at the two cigarettes that were sitting in the mug.

"Three cigarettes does not a chain smoker make." Alice replied. "When I'm smoking three at one time we might have a problem."

"Don't discount chain-smoking yet." Frank warned.

"Now you're just being a prick." Alice whined. "You know my scores why do you have to say things like that."

"It's more fun this way." Frank informed her.

"For you maybe." Alice huffed. "Next score please."

"Herbology." Frank began.

"Oh, I failed that one horribly, didn't I?" Alice interrupted. "I actually dropped the plant I was working with and had to stun it before it bit off Tracey Mulligan's leg. She hates me now."

Frank looked at her in horror at the very idea of dropping a plant.

"You got a dreadful." Frank said. "I don't see how, you deserved a troll."

"The proctor was very impressed with my quick thinking with the stunner." Alice told him. "That's probably what bumped me up."

"History of Magic, poor." Frank said looking slightly impressed. "How did you pull that one off? I got a dreadful."

"My father is weirdly into the Goblin Wars, he used to tell me the stories as bedtime stories." Alice explained.

"You came out surprisingly normal for such bloody bedtime stories." Frank observed.

"I know. It makes my sunny disposition and child-like wonder all that more amazing." Alice agreed. "I retained just enough to get a poor, I suppose."

"My mother hated History of Magic and the Goblin Wars so she ruined any hope I had of passing." Frank remarked.

"Bad parenting, that." Alice said. "Although I suppose you're allowed one mistake if you raise a child who gets eleven OWLs besides that."

"I've always thought so." Frank agreed. "I only managed a dreadful because of my father, he's quite fond of the paintings in the museum so I retained a bit from him. Merlin knows I never paid attention in that class."

"I don't think anyone did." Alice replied. "Potions?"

"Potions…" Frank said, finding his place on the paper once more. "Exceeds expectations."

"Oh sweet baby Cliodne, thank you." Alice declared letting out a huge breath. "I can keep trying to be an auror this is the best day of my life."

"You haven't even heard your Transfiguration score." Frank pointed out bemused.

"Let me guess, Transfiguration, exceeds expectations?" Alice guessed.

"No." Frank answered.

"What?!" Alice yelped. "What! What! What? What do you mean no?! How did I fail Transfiguration?"

"You didn't." Frank said.

"You don't mean I got a bloody acceptable do you?" Alice asked. "It's because I Transfigured Jody Amberson's hair in the middle of the exam as a joke, isn't it? Dorcas dared me to it's not my fault!"

"I feel like I missed out on a lot during my OWL exams by being a year above you." Frank remarked raising an eyebrow at Alice.

"I'm going to become a stupid trolley lady on the Hogwarts Express and it's all because Dorcas hates Jody's luxurious red hair which is stupid because Dorcas has the best hair in our year." Alice moaned flopping on her bed. "No one fancies the trolley lady, Frank. I am going to die alone surrounded by expired Bertie Botts and Fizzing Whizbees!"

Frank tried to withhold his laughter.

"Can you imagine how monotonous it must be to go to every compartment on the train and ask over and over again 'Candy from the trolley? Candy from the trolley?'" Alice ranted. "Then there's always that one stupid rich kid with a sweet tooth who buys all the candy and you have to explain to all the other kids how there's no more candy and they're all irate and unhappy and you get shoes and toads thrown at you. _Toads, _Frank, _toads. _I am terrified of toads! My boggart even turns into a toad this is a horrible career choice for me."

"I don't even know which part of that statement to address." Frank remarked. "You're throwing so much information at me at once I can't get my remarks out in time."

"The worst part is, though, that I'm that stupid rich kid who buys all the candy. I do it every year and now I'm going to have to run the trolley and I'm going to eat the candy and that will come out of my pay. I'm going to make virtually nothing and live an unfulfilling lonely life. All because of stupid Dorcas and Jody Amberson." Alice finished. "Worse, I am going to live a lonely unfulfilled life surrounded by the toads that students throw at me, because you know they will follow me home. I am going to live in constant fear for the rest of my life."

"Maybe you'll conquer your fear of toads?" Frank suggested.

"That isn't very likely." Alice replied. "When I say I am terrified of toads I mean I become a curled up mass of tears and shriek at the sight of one."

"Well, I guess it's lucky for you that you didn't get an acceptable on your Transfiguration OWL then." Frank said. "No toads and candy trolley for you."

"You have completely lost me." Alice replied.

"You got an outstanding, stupid." Frank explained. "You just jumped to the worst result. I can't believe you call yourself an optimist."

"What?" Alice asked. "You prat! You let me think I failed and let me have a whole crisis and you knew I got a bloody _O_?!"

"I was going to correct you but the candy trolley story was really funny." Frank said. "You wouldn't stop talking either."

Alice, not accepting of this explanation, got a pillow from the bed and began to beat Frank with it violently, the only way for her to get her anger out properly.

Alice was not violent or quick to anger by nature, she was generally a very low-key girl, but with the prospect of losing possibly the only thing she wanted in life, and then finding out it was all a joke, she snapped.

"You knew I had passed and could continue on to be an auror and you just sat there and let me think I had wasted my life!" Alice continued, ignoring Frank's pleas. "You are a horrible person and you should be ashamed of yourself. I should have let that Nora bird ruin your life!"

"Hey, hey, let's not be hasty." Frank exclaimed, trying to get away from the pillow attacks. "I don't think leaving me in the clutches of Nora would be an equal punishment to this."

"No." Alice said, dropping the pillow. "You're right, that would be too lenient. You should probably be fed to a gigantic Venus Flytrap. At least then you can be with your beloved plants."

"You get really creatively violent when you're angry." Frank observed relieved to be free from the pillow beating. "I'm almost impressed.

"I get really creatively violent when people make me think I have failed at the only thing that is important." Alice retorted.

"You're the one that jumped to the conclusion." Frank repeated causing Alice to glare at him. "I shouldn't have said that should I?"

Alice shook her head slowly, causing Frank to fear momentarily for his life. He moved to get up and far enough away that the pillow still grasped in her hand would not pummel him once more, but as he moved to get away it only seemed to agitate Alice more, and she tackled him once more, smashing the pillow into his face.

Alice pummeled him for a few minutes, occasionally yelling insults that got increasingly nonsensical, as Frank tried to plea to get her to stop. His pleas doing nothing to stop the repetitive pillow beating Frank did the only thing he had left, he used his larger strength and body mass to overturn Alice, effectively pinning her under him rather than the other way around. The pillow went spinning away to the other side of the room, momentarily forgotten.

"Are you done?" Frank asked as Alice glared at him.

"If I had had my wand I would have transfigured you into a parrot." Alice told him.

"You are so weird." Frank replied. "I think the Goblin Wars bedtime stories have had an impact yet."

Alice paused to think this over.

"I think you might be right actually, I'm not a generally violent person at all but I was incredibly aggressive just now." She agreed. "Probably all those bloody wars."

"You don't have to tell me." Frank said his hair an impressive collection of messy static strands from the brutal beating.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked from the doorway causing Frank and Alice to look up.

"Bernice!" Alice exclaimed. "What are you doing up?"

"I heard a loud noise and I thought I should check it out." Bernice explained eyebrow raised, gesturing to her wand. "Are you having an affair or something? It's after midnight Alice, this is so inappropriate."

"_No._" Alice answered at once. "I have a boyfriend, Bernice."

"Is this him?" Bernice asked gesturing to Frank. "I've met Alice's other boyfriends under worse conditions."

"_What?_" Frank asked baffled looking at Alice in surprise. "What condition is worse than this?"

"I don't know I walked in on her with some bloke in the duvet." Bernice remarked with a shrug. "It was odd."

"For Merlin's sake! That was James. We have been over this time and again. We are just mates and that was our secret fortress. I was twelve." Alice explained exasperated.

"What you get up to is no business of mine." Bernice declared holding up her hands.

"Not to mention you're wrong once again, my boyfriend is Gilderoy." Alice continued ignoring Bernice.

"He doesn't look like Gilderoy." Bernice observed, then to Frank. "Your parents did a horrible job naming you."

"That's because he isn't a Gilderoy, he's a Frank." Alice said. "Frank if you could get off me that'd be great, by the way."

"Sorry." Frank apologized getting up. "I'm just trying to follow what is happening right now."

"This is Bernice my sister, she thinks I have weird inappropriate moments with guys in other people's homes but I do not. You are Frank, not Gilderoy, who is my boyfriend, and did you say I actually got an O on my Transfiguration OWL?" Alice summed up. "That's just registered. I had no idea I was so brilliant."

"Just to be clear," Bernice interrupted, "you are dating some bloke named Gilderoy but you're cheating on him with Frank here. That's low even for you Alice."

"Frank and I are not involved in any way shape or form!" Alice exclaimed.

"That's not what it looked like." Bernice observed. "I won't tell mother or father though, don't worry. You never tattled on Marcus and me in seventh year so this makes us even."

"I thought you were guys were just hanging out?" Alice asked confused.

"For a girl who is involved with two guys at once you are surprisingly naïve." Bernice remarked.

"I'm not involved with-Frank tell her we are not involved." Alice ordered. "I'm not having another James debacle."

"We're not." Frank agreed. "I don't know if you've noticed but she's a little off, I don't date girls that are off."

"Nora was pretty off if you ask me." Alice scoffed.

"If you guys are dating I don't think you should be discussing you exes." Bernice suggested. "I mean, if you want to stay together."

Alice groaned and gave up; aware she would never be able to change her sister's mind.

"Are those cigarettes?" Bernice asked pointing to the cigarette carton that was sitting on the desk. "Alice do you smoke?"

"No." Alice answered. "Frank smokes. Nonstop, those are his. It's disgusting he smokes almost a whole pack a day."

"You don't look like a smoker." Bernice observed looking at Frank.

"It's true. I've smoked two since I've been here. I have a problem." Frank agreed at Alice's expectant gaze.

"I can't believe you'd date a smoker, Alice." Bernice remarked. "Isn't it kind of like kissing a chimney?"

Frank made a gesture as if to say thank you. Alice placed her face in her hands and let out a groan.

"Why don't you go Frank?" Alice suggested into her hands.

"That'd probably be best." Bernice agreed. "We don't want mother, father, or the Macmillans coming in here."

"I should be getting home." Frank said.

"Don't forget your cigarettes." Alice added.

"Right." Frank said looking at the cigarettes. "Wouldn't want to forget those. I haven't finished my pack yet."

"Bye Frank." Bernice said cheerfully waving to him. "It was nice meeting you!"

Frank disapparated with a quick goodbye.

"He seemed nice." Bernice remarked once he was gone. "Besides the smoker thing, at least. You should try and make it work with him for once. You guys looked good together."

"Don't be weird." Alice told her, going to retrieve her pillow. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Tired, are you?" Bernice asked raising her eyebrow suggestively.

Alice looked at her blankly until Bernice felt awkward enough that she left with a goodnight. Alice shook her head and went to turn of the light on the desk, picking up her book and OWLs results. She smiled to herself, she had passed, she could be an auror yet.


	5. Chapter Four

A knock came upon the door startling Alice. She was currently engaged in a hide and seek game with Bernice, home from work as it was her typical day off. They had started playing after lunch and finding hiding spots was becoming increasingly challenging. She had wedged herself between the cloak rack and umbrella stand squeezed against the wall, they weren't allowed to leave the first floor, and thus she felt the knock sharply against her back. A house elf appeared almost instantly and cast her a confused look before opening the door.

"May I please speak to Alice Fawley?" Frank asked from the other side of the door.

Alice cursed her luck. Bernice would find her easily now.

"Please come in, Miss Fawley will be with you shortly." The house elf said intending to lead Frank into the parlor.

"Evidently very shortly." Frank remarked wryly seeing Alice at once. "What are you doing?"

"I'm in the middle of hide and seek." Alice hissed trying to wave Frank away.

"Not exactly the most inventive hiding spot, is it?" Frank observed.

"It won't be if you're standing here talking to me." Alice pointed out.

"Gilderoy! Have you seen my sister?" Bernice asked appearing in the hallway. "Nevermind. That is a horrible hiding spot, Alice."

"It's Frank." Alice corrected getting up. "You've never met Gilderoy."

"I feel as though it'd easier for me to keep track if you weren't bouncing between two." Bernice commented.

"She's been doing this all week." Alice grumbled. "Gilderoy is blonde, Bernice."

"I'm never going to remember that." Bernice said. "Can't you just pick one?"

"I picked Gilderoy." Alice replied.

Bernice shot Frank a sympathetic look.

"That's a horrible way to break up with someone, Alice." She reprimanded. "My sister is a bit defunct in social conduct, I am terrible sorry Frank."

Frank shrugged, clearly all right with letting this confusion deal with itself.

"If you are breaking up why is he here?" Bernice asked.

"We're still friends." Alice remarked.

"That never works." Bernice pointed out.

Alice shrugged.

"Are you going to go abandon me to be 'friends' which is obviously slang for snogging?" She asked conversationally.

"It seems so." Alice replied glancing at her watch. "Louis should be home soon."

"Louis and I are great friends." Bernice commented winking. "Have fun then."

Bernice turned back down the hallway and Alice all but shoved Frank out the door.

"Sorry about her, Bernice likes to embarrass me. She isn't normally so weird." She apologized.

"I imagine most siblings are like that. It's amusing to those of us without." Frank observed. "It does remind me though, I have these for you."

Frank held out the cigarettes which Alice had forced on him a few nights ago.

"Thanks." Alice said taking them and shoving them in a pocket. "I'm surprised you didn't just throw them out."

"Well I would have but since you paid for them it seemed rude." Frank explained. "Unfortunately instead I shall enable your habit."

"I appreciate it." Alice replied. "Where are we going then?"

"Nearby muggle village." Frank answered.

"Run out of things to do in Old Lyme, have we?" Alice asked.

"I ran out of things to do in Old Lyme my first day here." Frank pointed out. "Muggle villages, however, provide a whole slew of interesting things."

"That's true." Alice agreed. "What's there to do in this muggle village?"

"I've heard there was a bonfire going on." Frank said.

"Giant fires surrounded by a bunch of teenagers acting like idiots?" Alice observed. "Sounds like being back at Hogwarts."

"The Gryffindor Common Room seems much more dangerous than the Ravenclaw." Frank teased.

"Frank, dear, you're missing out on the best parts of the school year." Alice said. "Maybe you should stop studying all the time."

"Our definitions of the school experience are clearly different."

"Considering mine doesn't include the library as a focal point I'd have to agree."

"We'll see if you're singing the same tune when you start experiencing NEWT level classes." Frank retorted.

"I'll give you that one." Alice conceded. "I will probably become a massive nerd just like you."

"It's not as bad as it seems." Frank assured.

They arrived in the muggle village a little while later, where their muggle peers were setting up for a bonfire. Frank introduced himself and Alice, making up a quick lie about them staying nearby for the tourist season. They integrated surprisingly well, it was possible the muggle teenagers had already started on the celebrations and were not functioning at top capacity, and it was not long until they were sitting around the bonfire chatting amicably with the muggles.

"So what's the deal with you and Frank then?" A brunette named Victoria asked conversationally, sitting down next to Alice.

"Nothing?" Alice replied. "We're mates."

"Brilliant." Victoria remarked. "I won't be starting anything if I hit on him then?"

"No." Alice assured. "I have a boyfriend myself so I promise I won't even get a little jealous."

"Is he fit?" Victoria asked.

"Pretty damn fit." Alice answered. "His name is Gilderoy."

"What kind of fop is named Gilderoy?" Victoria inquired. "That's such a weird name."

"It is." Alice agreed. "He kind of is a fop but he is ridiculously good looking. His last name is worse."

"So shallow, Alice." Victoria mock-scolded. "What's the bloke's last name thing?"

"Lockhart." Alice said.

"Gilderoy Lockhart? His parents must have been very imaginative. And he must be very attractive." Victoria remarked.

"Oh, he is." Alice assured.

"Either of you birds have a fag?" One of the guys asked interrupting their conversation.

"Oh, I do." Alice said digging into her pocket and pulling her pack out, offering it to him.

"Brilliant." The boy remarked taking the cigarette and lighting it against the bonfire.

"Now I want one." Alice declared, pulling one out herself. "I'll see you later, yeah? Good luck with Frank."

Alice lit her cigarette and mingled into another group that seemed to be sitting around a cooler.

"What's going on here then?" She asked conversationally.

"Beer." One of the guys answered, offering one up to her.

Alice looked it over and shook her head, she hated muggle beer.

"No thanks." She said. "S'weak."

The guy raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" He asked challengingly.

"Yes. Have fun with your weak beer." She answered wandering off to another group.

"Fun?" Frank asked appearing next to her suddenly.

"Pretty fun." Alice agreed. "They have muggle beer though."

Frank made a face.

"What can you expect from muggles?" He replied. "You're smoking."

"You always say that like you're surprised but I've told you at least three times now." Alice pointed out.

"Well you acted like it was some national secret but you're whipping them out nonstop." Frank explained. "I'm surprised no one else knows."

"I'm more covert at school." Alice said. "Some bloke asked for one and then I wanted one. It's like once you see cake you have to have it."

"That's addiction." Frank remarked.

"You're addiction." Alice shot back.

"Smooth."

"Whatever." Alice huffed. "Oh! See that brunette over there?"

"The one with the headband going round her head?" Frank clarified.

"With the New York Dolls shirt? Yeah, her." Alice answered. "I hate the Sex Pistols, more of a Dylan and Stevens girl myself."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about." Frank informed her.

"Cat Stevens? Bob Dylan?" Alice clarified to Frank's further confusion. "Merlin, Frank, get some muggle friends. Please. This is just embarrassing."

"I'm trying." Frank pointed out gesturing to the various muggles. "Who needs muggle music when the new Pumpkin Blood album is coming out in two weeks though?"

"I hate Pumpkin Blood." Alice remarked.

"You would hate Pumpkin Blood." Frank declared. "If your hatred of good music is any indication, I bet the New York Dolls are actually good."

"They're kind of the same." Alice admitted. "Pumpkin Blood is more though."

"I bet me and that brunette girl with headband round her head would get on then." Frank remarked.

"Her name is Victoria." Alice told him. "It's funny you think so because she's going to hit on you."

"What?" Frank asked startled.

"She digs you Franklin." Alice reiterated. "She likes the whole old man thing, I suppose."

"_Why_?" Frank asked.

"I'm as flabbergasted as you are." Alice answered. "She asked if we were dating and if it was all right if she hit on you."

"You told her it was?" Frank declared.

"I told her it wouldn't bother me, yes." Alice said. "Was I meant to pretend it would?"

"I don't date." Frank explained.

"I met your ex-girlfriend, remember? That scary Nora chick. She's proof you date." Alice pointed out.

"That worked out so well, didn't it?" Frank deadpanned.

"I feel like this is the sort of thing we should establish before going out in public." Alice remarked. "You should probably warn me that if a girl is trying to pull you I should block it."

"She's not even that cute." Frank observed. "I don't like brunettes."

"Nora was a brunette." Alice pointed out.

"Nora has turned me off from all brunettes." Frank said. "I thought that was evident."

"The amount of impact Nora has had on your life is a bit startling. Did you guys date for a long time of something?" Alice asked.

"Two months give or take." Frank answered with a shrug.

"That's not a very long time to never date again." Alice pointed out. "She didn't seem _that _psycho."

"I don't not date because of Nora, I don't date because it's distracting and I want to be an auror." Frank clarified.

Alice looked at him bewildered.

"You can date and be an auror." Alice argued. "I date and I'm going to be an auror."

"You think you had gotten a T on your Transfiguration OWL." Frank pointed out. "You thought you'd be doomed to life as the trolley lady surrounded by toads. Which, apparently, you are terrified of, which is just bizarre by the way."

"I had a very traumatic experience with toads when I was younger." Alice defended. "And I feel all that is a bit uncalled for because my dating had nothing to do with that."

"Didn't it though?" Frank asked skeptically.

"I don't think it did." Alice said.

Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Victoria is coming this way." Alice observed.

"That's not funny."

"I'm not joking; she's walking over here with a bottle of weak muggle beer." Alice said gesturing with her cigarette towards Victoria.

"Bollocks." Frank declared. "We should make ourselves scarce."

"That seems rude." Alice observed.

"Said the girl who threatened to hex someone the first time she met them?" Frank remarked.

"If you're going to use the times I helped you against me, I'll let you handle your ex-girlfriends yourself from now on." Alice pouted.

"I think I'll be able to live with that." Frank deadpanned.

"Hullo Victoria!" Alice chirped.

"Alice. Frank." Victoria greeted as Frank sent Alice a glare.

"Victoria." Frank greeted politely.

"You guys want a beer?" Victoria offered holding up a bottle.

"No thank you." Alice replied. "I think I need to use the loo, actually. Where is it anyways?"

"Oh, if you go talk to Chris over there he'll sort you out." Victoria answered gesturing to a blonde boy.

"Thank you." Alice said waving before heading off towards Chris.

"Beer?" Victoria offered once again.

"No thank you." Frank answered waving it off.

"Don't drink?" Victoria asked confused.

"That brand is just very…weak." Frank said for lack of a better explanation.

"Oh, yeah." Victoria agreed. "I bet you drink scotch."

"…Yes." Frank answered hesitantly; he could almost hear Alice saying that it was an old man drink.

"That's cool." Victoria said nodding.

"I have a girlfriend." Frank said abruptly.

"Oh." Victoria replied. "Alice didn't mention-."

"She has a horrible memory." Frank explained. "She can't even remember my name most days."

"Is she…ill?" Victoria asked in a whisper.

"Possibly." Frank answered. "Her mother is having her tested."

"Poor Alice." Victoria remarked.

"It is very sad." Frank agreed. "In fact, I'm not supposed to let her alone for too long so I should probably go track her down. She freaks out if she's alone in unfamiliar places and can't remember how she got there."

"She's so brave." Victoria breathed.

"Oh, yes. Incredibly." Frank said. "Goodbye."

Frank wandered off and found Alice with Chris and another guy, bumming cigarettes.

"I've never had this brand before!" Alice exclaimed excitedly taking the cigarette. "Is it good?"

"S'all right." Chris replied. "Cheap."

"Alice." Frank greeted.

"Convinced her to leave you be then?" Alice asked lighting her new cigarette.

"I told her you were mentally ill." Frank remarked.

"That doesn't seem relevant?" Alice replied confused.

"It was." Frank assured.

"Most people just say no thank you." Alice pointed out.

Frank shrugged.

"Anyways, if you don't want everyone to start treating you like you have no short-term memory we should probably leave." Frank commented. "I think Victoria is telling that red head over there about your problems."

"Did you tell her I have memory problems?" Alice inquired aghast.

"You kind of do." Frank pointed out.

"Not that bad!" Alice argued.

"It's pretty bad." Frank said patting Alice's shoulder. "I could have told her about your toad phobia."

Alice pursed her lips.

"I suppose we ought to go." She said finally. "Before someone starts treating me like an invalid."

"That would probably be best." Frank agreed. "Plus everyone keeps trying to talk to me about muggle stuff and I have no idea what they're talking about."

Alice laughed.

"My mates are pureblood." He explained.

"Evidently." She replied making her way out of the crowd. "Where are we off to then?"

"I have no idea." Frank said.

"No other muggle parties you want to crash?" Alice asked.

"That was the only one I heard about." Frank replied.

"It's too early to go home." Alice declared.

"It's past eleven." Frank pointed out.

"You apparated into my room at three in the morning and think eleven is late?" Alice inquired.

"I'll give you that one." Frank conceded. "Even if it wasn't actually three technically."

Alice waved his technicalities off. They wandered in silence for a while, listening to the night life before coming upon a field. Frank groaned, Alice smiled.

"We're going to do something silly, aren't we?" He asked as Alice flopped onto the ground.

"No." Alice assured. "Stargazing isn't silly."

"We stargaze in class. It's pretty nerdy to want to stargaze outside of class." Frank teased.

"Stargazing isn't nerdy." Alice argued. "It's boring in Astronomy Class but fun on your own."

"All right, all right." Frank conceded lying down next to Alice. "I was always horrible at the constellations."

"Oh! I'm brilliant at them!" Alice declared excitedly. "You start by finding the summer triangle and go from there."

"They don't even look like what they're meant to." Frank pointed out.

"You lack imagination, Frank." Alice told him. "Ursa major is the beariest constellation I've ever seen."

"I don't even know which side is the head." Frank remarked.

"Muscida." Alice said as if it were obvious. "You follow the dipper down a few stars."

"It doesn't look like a bear." Frank repeated.

"I bet you don't think Cygnus looks like a swan either?" Alice asked.

"It's a cross." Frank deadpanned.

"It's a swan in flight!" Alice argued. "Cygnus the swan has so many great stories and you're downplaying all of them by saying it's a cross."

"It is a cross." Frank repeated. "Look at it!"

"What about septuagenarius?" Alice asked.

"That isn't a constellation." Frank argued.

"It is!" Alice maintained. "If you go east from Cygnus and then north a bit that star right there is the head."

"Septuagenarius is Latin for someone between the ages of seventy and eighty Alice." Frank remarked wryly. "It's not a constellation."

"It is!" Alice continued. "Look you follow that star down and it looks like an old person with a walker."

"What's the name of the star then?" Frank asked raising any eyebrow.

"François." Alice answered at once.

"François is French for Frank, Alice." Frank stated.

"Is it?" Alice asked as if the thought had never occurred to her. "I had no idea."

Frank rolled his eyes.

"It's not a real constellation." He repeated. "They didn't even have walkers back then."

"Are you doubting me?" Alice asked mock-offended. "Who got an O on their Astronomy OWL here?"

"I'm beginning to wonder how you pulled that off when you make up constellations." Frank remarked.

"My best mate Aurora is obsessed with Astronomy." Alice clarified. "She made me star gaze with her when we went out to smoke so I've gotten quite good at it."

"Her name is Aurora and she likes Astronomy?" Frank asked dryly. "That worked out nicely."

"Sometimes names are very fitting like that." Alice agreed. "It's like how Professor Sprout teaches Herbology. Her name is _Pomona Sprout, _Frank. It happens."

"I'll give you that." Frank conceded. "It must be nice having a name telling you what to do with your life."

"Alice is not the name of an auror." Alice said shaking her head. "Imagine being Aurora the auror?"

"That would suck." Frank remarked.

"What kind of career does Longbottom set you up for anyhow?" Alice teased.

"Bottom is an old word for staying power; it basically means we have brilliant endurance." Frank pointed out.

"Oh okay." Alice said mockingly. "If that's what you need to tell yourself."

"That's what it means." Frank argued. "I'm sorry, Fawley, please enlighten me what your name is about."

"Something about birds." Alice answered waving him off. "Suppose I ought to go into the owl business?"

"I think you missed that window of opportunity by not taking Care of Magical Creatures." Frank pointed out.

"Drat." Alice cursed. "That was my back-up."

* * *

It wasn't long until the end of summer vacation became apparent. The first harbinger of the change was the arrival of Hogwarts letters all across the country. Two owls made their way to Old Lyme, familiar envelopes tied to their legs, addressed to Frank Longbottom and Alice Fawley. Alice got her's at breakfast and opened it half paying attention, knowing what would be waiting her inside the white envelope. Frank, on the other hand, received his envelope with a sense of anxiousness. His parents paused from their breakfast and looked at him expectantly.

Frank felt the familiar weight of a badge in the envelope, one he had come to know quite well for the past few years. The question that was on everyone's mind, however, as he carefully opened the envelope was if the badge would bear the familiar 'Prefect' or the desired 'Head Boy'.

"Well?" Mr. Longbottom asked as Frank emptied the contents onto the table neatly.

Frank pulled out the badge and looked at it frowning.

"I'm afraid," he began watching as his mother and father's faces fell, "that I'm going to have to spend the rest of the year keeping prefects in check, as Head Boy."

Frank smiled as his parents' faces lit up as if it was Christmas, congratulating him.

"Brilliant." Frank said to himself smiling at the badge.

"We should celebrate." Mrs. Longbottom declared.

"We don't have to." Frank said at once, thinking of his father's health.

"Nonsense." Mr. Longbottom said waving him off. "We can go somewhere nice to eat tonight."

"All right." Frank agreed.

They finished their breakfast discussing places to go and various other points of conversation, the newest attack by the Death Eaters for a moment when the Daily Prophet arrived, and so on. After breakfast Mrs. Longbottom helped her husband into his study before pulling Frank aside.

"Frank, dear, about Diagon Alley." Mrs. Longbottom began.

"Do you want me to go alone so you can stay with father?" Frank asked cutting her off. "I don't mind, I only have a few books to get."

Mrs. Longbottom looked grateful. She resolved quietly to herself to get something for Frank later, as a thank you for how supportive and helpful he had been during his father's increasingly worsening health.

"I'll just get the money I need out of Gringotts." Frank said making a plan out mentally in his head. "I think I'll go today actually, so I won't have to worry about it. You don't mind, do you?"

"No." Mrs. Longbottom assured. "Go to Diagon Alley and have a little fun, Frank. We're proud of you."

Frank smiled at his mother before heading up stairs, preparing a mental list of what else he would need besides his school books.

* * *

"You don't suppose we could go tomorrow, do you Alice?" Mrs. Fawley asked getting ready in her room. "I'm having tea with Lenora and Maude today."

"You hate Maude Prewett mother!" Alice exclaimed. "You told me so."

"I don't hate Maude Prewett." Mrs. Fawley argued. "Wherever did you get that idea?"

"You told me so, when I told you I had that date with Fabian. You specifically said 'Oh don't marry him please, I couldn't put up with Maude on holidays. I hate her.'" Alice said.

"I was over-exaggerating." Mrs. Fawley allowed. "I would hate Maude on holidays; she's all right at tea."

"She stole your boyfriend in school." Alice remarked.

"How do you know all this?!" Mrs. Fawley exclaimed.

"You _told _me." Alice repeated. "When I told you about that time Missy Stengins stole Arthur Derabon from me."

"Wasn't it the other way around?" Mrs. Fawley asked confused.

"It might have been." Alice allowed thinking back. "I think it was. Regardless, you hate Maude Prewett."

"I've put the past behind me." Mrs. Fawley decided. "We can go to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

"I'll have lost my list by tomorrow, mother." Alice informed her.

"Put it somewhere secure." Mrs. Fawley suggested. "Where you'll remember where it is."

"That never works." Alice pointed out.

"We should get you a rememberall." Mrs. Fawley remarked.

"Rememberalls are rubbish, mother. They don't tell you where the thing you've lost is or even what it is, just that you've forgotten something." Alice said. "It's quite aggravating, really. In fact you got me a rememberall last Christmas and I lost it."

"So we did." Mrs. Fawley recalled. "I forgot."

Alice raised her arms in frustration as if to say 'see'.

"Can't Bernice take you?" Mrs. Fawley asked after a moment.

"Bernice is at work." Alice said.

"Well," Mrs. Fawley began trying to think of a solution, "you could go alone?"

"You're going to send me to a shopping pavilion full of shiny objects with unlimited money?" Alice asked wryly. "Do you know me?"

"I trust you." Mrs. Fawley assured.

"That makes one of us." Alice retorted.

"I don't know what you want from me, honey." Mrs. Fawley said finally.

"I want you to stop having tea with people you hate and take your daughter school shopping." Alice explained.

"I don't hate Maude Prewett." Mrs. Fawley began again.

"Yes you do! She stole Charles Wallaby from you in fifth year and you hate her." Alice argued. "You do!"

"Lenora and Maude are very good friends." Mrs. Fawley explained. "It's very likely I will be spending more time with Maude Prewett and I ought to get used to it."

Alice scowled.

"It was years ago, Alice." Mrs. Fawley continued. "It's time to bury the hatchet."

"Tell Missy Stengins that in fifty years when our kids are getting married." Alice remarked.

"I will." Mrs. Fawley said smiling at Alice.

Suddenly, a house elf appeared stopping Alice's next retort.

"A Mr. Longbottom to see Mrs. Fawley." The house elf declared.

"Go with Frank!" Mrs. Fawley suggested.

"Frank is probably going with his parents." Alice argued. "Frank's parents actually love him."

"We love you." Mrs. Fawley assured.

"Not as much as you love Maude Prewett." Alice muttered.

"No, not as much as Maude Prewett." Mrs. Fawley agreed.

Alice scowled and left the room to go greet Frank, grumbling under her breath about her mother and Maude Prewett.

"Hullo." Frank greeted.

"Hullo." Alice replied. "You got Head Boy, didn't you?"

"Yes." Frank answered, glancing down at the booklist that was in his hands.

"Congratulations." Alice said. "I can't believe I'm friends with a Head Boy. Will you get me out of detentions now?"

"No." Frank replied instantly.

"You're a horrible head boy." Alice told him.

"I'm a horrible head boy because I'm not crooked?" Frank clarified, Alice nodded her head. "Makes sense. Anyways, I just thought I ought to tell you, I'm on my way to Diagon Alley-."

"Your parents waited for you to tell me you were head boy before going to Diagon Alley?" Alice interrupted.

"No, I'm going by myself." Frank said.

"I thought your parents loved you." Alice remarked.

"They do?" Frank replied confused. "I just don't need them to go to Diagon Alley with me. They have other things to do."

"My parents just hate me. My mother would rather have tea with someone she hates than go to Diagon Alley with me." Alice sulked.

"What?" Frank asked confused.

"My mother hates Maude Prewett." Alice explained, without explaining anything.

"Your mother hates Maude Prewett?" Frank asked surprised. "Why? Maude Prewett is a lovely woman."

"It's a long story." Alice said waving him off. "What's important is my mother is going to tea with Maude Prewett even though she hates her and now I have to go to Diagon Alley alone."

"We could go together?" Frank suggested.

"Brilliant." Alice said. "I'll just go grab my bag."

A few moments later Frank and Alice were at Diagon Alley, shopping lists in hand on their way to Flourish and Blott's.

"I only need a few of these books." Alice said to herself going down the list. "Bernice took most of the same classes as me."

"Perks of not being an only child." Frank remarked. "I have to get all of my own."

"Bernice drew in the margins though." Alice commented. "In my Potions textbook last year there was this ridiculous doodle of Slughorn."

"Yet you want to continue using her books?" Frank replied.

"It makes for interesting classes." Alice said. "She failed Charms though and didn't take Arithmancy so I have to get those. That and Defense Against the Dark Arts because we have a new teacher _again._"

"They never teach the exact same curriculum." Frank agreed. "What happened to Professor Robertson anyways? He was an all right teacher."

"Sex scandal." Alice answered nonchalantly.

"What?" Frank asked stopping suddenly in shock. "Did you say I _sex scandal_?"

"Did you not hear about it?" Alice replied in surprise. "He was having some affair with a student. He's only a year or two older than you, you know."

"How do you even know about it?" Frank asked. "It wasn't in the Prophet."

"Hogwarts covered it up; at least that's what Bernice said. Bernice works at the Prophet." Alice answered. "I heard about it from Dorcas though, she was right pissed because she thought Robertson was fit and she had this whole depression spiral over how he chose Melanie Waters over her."

"_Melanie Waters?"_ Frank repeated. "She was Head Girl!"

"I know." Alice said with a laugh. "It was all very fitting, the Head Girl giving head."

Despite himself, Frank laughed.

"I think they're living together now that she's graduated." Alice commented. "Florence Waters, her younger sister, is in the same dorm as me and she said as much."

"I had no idea you followed the school gossip so closely." Frank remarked, making his way towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts section.

"I don't. Dorcas does. Dorcas then likes to share with the rest of the dorm what is going on." Alice clarified.

"I don't follow the school gossip at all." Frank said.

"That doesn't surprise me in the least bit." Alice replied. "You didn't even know about the sex scandal."

Frank shrugged.

"Oi, Frank. I don't suppose you still have your Charms books do you?" Alice asked suddenly. "From sixth year, I mean."

"Yes." Frank answered. "Are you asking to borrow it because I'd like to point out that the Fawleys certainly have enough money to buy Charms textbooks?"

"I'll buy some of them." Alice negotiated. "I don't like buying books. Then you're stuck with them forever or have to sell them to a secondhand shop. Plus then I can buy my textbook money to buy a new rememberall."

"You could afford a rememberall either way." Frank pointed out.

"My father puts a specific amount of money in my school fund." Alice said. "He thinks I spend money on silly things, but I actually do need forty quills because I'm going to forget at least ten of them when I pack."

"I'm beginning to feel as though I didn't exaggerate your memory problem to Victoria at all." Frank commented wryly.

"I don't forget important things. Just where I put things and the names of people who I haven't formally met." Alice argued. "Look how many textbooks I have to get Frank! At least let me borrow one. One is the price of a rememberall."

"I write in the margins." Frank warned.

"You're only making a case for borrowing your book more." Alice pointed out.

"Do you want my Arithmancy book too?" Frank conceded.

"No thank you. I hate having other people's writing in Arithmancy books, it throws me off. I had to use Dorcas' once and it was a horror." Alice declined. "Thank you though! Your Charms books will not be mistreated or forgotten, I promise."

"...I'm going to give them to you after you get to Hogwarts because I feel as though you'll leave them at the Macmillans." Frank decided.

"That's probably for the best." Alice agreed.

After purchasing their books Frank and Alice headed into Scribbulus Everchanging Inks to restock on quills and ink for the new year before going to Potage's Cauldron Shop to pick up a new cauldron, Frank's had dissolved in a freak accident last year when he had been paired up with Conner Jenkins, a boy who had managed to get an E in Potions flabbergasting not only Slughorn, but his entire year.

"I think we should go to Magical Menagerie." Frank said as they ambled down the street.

"Why?" Alice asked. "Need more cat food or something?"

"I don't have a cat." Frank replied. "I have an owl."

"Then you ought to go to Eeylops." Alice pointed out. "It's newer than Menagerie, but more catered to owls."

"I don't need owl stuff." Frank said.

"Then why are we going to a pet store?" Alice asked confused. "I don't have a pet so I know I don't need anything."

"I was going to buy you a toad." Frank teased.

Alice glared.

"We'll see how funny you find all this when I find out what you're afraid of." She grumbled.

"Sorry." Frank apologized, not meaning it in the least. "How do you not have a pet?"

"I'm allergic to cats." Alice stated. "My parents offered to buy me an owl but I didn't want one, I almost got a toad but then the traumatic experience that made me afraid of toads happened."

"Which was?" Frank pressed.

"I don't want to talk about it." Alice replied. "It has to do with my cousin and-shit."

"What?" Frank asked confused at the sudden swearing.

In response Alice pushed Frank into the closest shop which happened to be Fortescue's this was an incredible feat in and of itself considering Frank was much taller and heavier than Alice and only served to confuse Frank further.

"What are you doing?" He asked as soon as she successfully forced him into the store.

Alice was looking out the window as inconspicuously as possible, as the patrons in the shop cast them odd looks.

"It's Gilderoy." She hissed.

"Gilderoy? Your boyfriend Gilderoy?" Frank clarified, Alice nodded. "Why are we hiding from your boyfriend?"

"I haven't written to him all summer." Alice answered.

"Ah yes, therefore avoiding him was the only option." Frank said sarcastically peering over Alice's head to see the infamous Gilderoy. "_That's _your boyfriend? Him?"

"Yes. Do you know him?" Alice replied.

"He's a Ravenclaw." Frank stated.

"I am aware of that fact, yes."

"He's the Ravenclaw that all the Ravenclaws make fun of." Frank explained.

"I thought you Ravenclaws are always boasting about how tolerant you are of fellow Ravenclaws?" Alice remarked.

"We don't make fun of him because he's weird; we make fun of him because he doesn't seem like a Ravenclaw at all." Frank said.

"He doesn't." Alice agreed. "I have no idea why he's in Ravenclaw."

"He wears curlers in his hair." Frank said with a laugh.

"_What?_" Alice asked incredulous.

"You didn't know?" Frank replied.

"I'm not in the habit of watching my boyfriend sleep, no." Alice retorted.

"He has this curler that he puts in his bangs. That's how he gets it to curl like that." Frank explained laughing. "He is such a ponce."

"That's my boyfriend you're talking about." Alice declared in outrage.

"Your boyfriend who wears curlers in his hair." Frank repeated, still laughing.

"One, he wears _one _curler. You said so yourself." Alice reminded.

"I can't believe you're dating _Gilderoy Lockhart._" Frank exclaimed laughing harder. "Oh Merlin, that is brilliant."

"Who exactly did you think I was dating when I said I was dating a bloke named Gilderoy?" Alice asked.

"Gilderoy Stewart, maybe? I wasn't thinking about whom honestly. Oddly enough I don't spend all day thinking about your boyfriend." Frank answered. "He didn't even seem real."

"Are you saying you thought I made up having a boyfriend?" Alice summed up in disbelief.

"No. I meant he seemed intangible, like he existed in another life. Kind of like your friends or my friends." Frank explained. "We've been living in a two person bubble all summer and since we never properly met before it didn't seem like anything else had any real importance."

"That's fair." Alice agreed. "I suppose I would have discounted your girlfriend if you had had one."

"What are you going to do if he comes in here?" Frank asked watching as Gilderoy got closer; Alice had forced them into the establishment when he was still awhile away.

"He won't." Alice answered. "He hates ice cream. He says it's 'too sugary' or some rubbish."

Frank laughed, Alice glared at him.

"I'm sorry." Frank apologized, once again not meaning it. "It's just, he's such a prat."

Alice groaned, aware she had just given Frank something else to tease her about. Frank was smiling as though it were Christmas, watching as Gilderoy Lockhart walked by in forget-me not blue robes.

* * *

August thirty-first arrived were very little warning. It was odd how time could pass so quickly that days suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It had felt as though the summer had only just begun, that it was still those first few blissful weeks of July when Frank and Alice had only just met brought together by their mutual boredom and Nora Whitehorn. They sat in the gazebo in the Macmillans backyard, if backyard was being use lightly, the shadow of the house visible in the distance. They sat on the bench, bottle of firewhiskey between them, enjoying their last night of summer.

"It's odd, innit?" Alice asked aloud breaking the silence. "Going back to school?"

Frank nodded.

"People are going to become real again." Frank agreed.

"How did we go a whole summer without seeing _anyone_?" Alice inquired as if the notion had just occurred to her.

"We saw Gilderoy." Frank teased.

"I wish we hadn't." Alice said. "We didn't talk to him though. I haven't talked to anyone from school all summer."

"It's weird." Frank surmised.

"Have you packed?" Alice asked.

"Yes." Frank answered. "Have you?"

"I will after this." Alice said.

"You're going to pack slightly buzzed?" Frank remarked wryly.

"I'm going to forget stuff anyways." Alice declared with a shrug. "Might as well have something to blame it on, that way when Dorcas says 'Alice how did you manage to forget all of your school jumpers' I can say 'Well I had just drunk a half bottle of firewhiskey'."

"You've done that before?" Frank asked with a laugh.

"Only the once." Alice defended. "In third year. I had to borrow Aurora's the first week and she hit puberty well before me so they were far too loose."

"You really need to work on your memory." Frank remarked.

"I can focus when I need to." Alice said waving him off. "It's not really a problem that was a freak accident really. Usually I just forget passwords and the like."

"Isn't the entry to the Gryffindor Common Room guarded by a password?" Frank asked.

"You see my problem." Alice stated. "I remember all sorts of other stuff though. I can tell you how to make almost any potion from scratch right now and I can name almost every star and constellation in the sky, including septuagenarius."

"That's not a real constellation." Frank reminded with a laugh.

"It is!" Alice maintained. "Ask Professor Tarazed."

"I would, but he might think I was crazy making up constellations." Frank said.

"He might think you're brilliant for knowing about the lesser known constellations." Alice argued.

"I'm not getting into this with you again."

"Because you know I'm right."

Frank groaned as Alice smiled triumphantly.

"You're going to miss me at school." Alice teased.

"Are you going somewhere?" Frank asked, almost in surprise.

"Are you going to want to hang out with me once you're back with your cool seventh year friends who can apparate and perform magic outside of school?" Alice replied, skeptical.

"Are you going to want to hang out with the head boy?" Frank retorted.

"That depends on if he will get me out of detention." Alice said.

"He won't." Frank assured.

"Then that friendship does not seem advantageous at all." Alice remarked.

"Said the girl who can't even apparate or perform magic outside of school." Frank teased.

"If you can overlook my shortcomings, I will overlook yours." Alice declared, mock-seriously.

"I'll try." Frank agreed.

"Brilliant." Alice said. "It doesn't matter anyways; you're stuck with me for the rest of your life."

"How do you figure?" Frank inquired.

"We both want to be aurors, Frank. What if they made us partners?" Alice pointed out. "Stuck with me, see."

"I'm not complaining you'll be the one stuck with an old man." Frank teased.

"Septuagenarian." Alice grumbled.

"I'm surprised you think seventy is old when Dumbledore is well into his hundreds." Frank remarked.

"Seventy isn't old." Alice conceded. "I just like the word septuagenarian."

"Where did you even learn that word?" Frank asked.

"Around."

Frank laughed, Alice laughed. They each took a swig from the bottle of firewhiskey and silently said goodbye to their summer bubble, aware that tomorrow would be vastly different from the quiet secret summer they had shared. It would be odd to try and fit the other into their school lives, where they had not existed before, but they would manage. They said goodbye to the quiet night, the sounds of wildlife the only thing filling the air, and then they said goodbye to each other. Frank apparated home to go to sleep and Alice began the decent across the yard towards her borrowed room, running over the list of things she would need to pack in her head.

Summer had been fun in its simplicity, but school and the troubles it would surely bring was about to begin.


	6. Chapter Five

The platform was crowded as was standard for the first day of school, and Alice made her way through the crowds and parents as well as she could, elbowing her way through when it was necessary. She was trying to get to the train to snag her favorite compartment, located in one of the first cars, before it got taken by one of the many other students. The key to getting a good compartment, of course, was arriving early. Alice had been late, however, and now she was anxiously trying to get her way through the crowd to the first train car.

"Alice!" A screech came suddenly making Alice look around.

"Dorcas!" Alice exclaimed spotting her blonde friend nearby.

Dorcas Meadowes was blonde, skinny, tall, blue-eyed, and the standard of perfection although she lacked the ability to see it within herself. Dorcas had a habit of expressing herself through her hair, cutting it all off, dying it obscene colors, and now her hair was a messy mop of curls that seemed to stick out a foot or so from her head.

"What the hell happened to you?" Alice asked as soon as her friend was near.

"There was a new girl at the home this summer and she insisted on giving me dreads." Dorcas explained. "I took them out but my hair won't _flatten_. I kind of like it though."

"You're so weird." Alice said with a laugh. "I missed you."

"I missed you too!" Dorcas remarked drawing Alice into a hug. "Now come along, Aurora's waiting in our compartment."

"Thank Godric." Alice said letting out a breath of relief. "I was going to try and get it but I showed up late-."

"Like you always do." Dorcas interjected.

"-and I was worried it'd already be taken." Alice continued as though Dorcas had not interrupted. "I'm not _always _late."

"Almost always then." Dorcas corrected.

Alice rolled her eyes at her friend as they made their way to the compartment. Upon arrival Alice was wrapped into a hug by her other friend, Aurora Martins. Aurora was shorter than Dorcas thought taller than Alice; dark skinned with short dark curls and had the odd quality of never quite saying what she meant. She often half-listened to conversations, agreeing without really knowing what she was agreeing to, she was a horrible conversationalist but when it came down to it she would let her opinions known.

Dorcas was quite opposite. Although shy around the opposite sex Dorcas had no problem mouthing off or disagreeing with people. She voiced her thoughts without a care. Dorcas and Aurora, both strong personalities in their own right, didn't have a lot of friends. Alice had many.

"How was your summer then?" Alice asked once they had all settled down.

"It was all right." Dorcas answered picking at her shirt. "As good as it ever as being at home."

Alice and Aurora nodded sympathetically.

"Have you made any headway?" Aurora asked.

"No, it was all closed. I have absolutely nothing to go off of." Dorcas answered. "I don't want to be a downer though; we can discuss my lack of knowledge about myself at a later date. How was your summer Rory?"

"Aurora." Aurora corrected not for the first time. "Why is that so hard for you to remember?"

"It's a nickname." Dorcas replied. "You don't have to have a meltdown every time I use it."

"All right then." Aurora allowed as Dorcas smiled in victory. "My summer was great, Dork. Thanks for asking. We went to the continent."

Dorcas' face fell, Alice laughed.

"That's not funny." She said.

"It's just a nickname." Aurora replied shrugging. "Do you not like it?"

Dorcas glared at Aurora who was looking incredibly smug.

"Well my summer, thanks for asking by the way," Alice began in an attempt to stop the fight before it began, "was really fun. I thought it was going to be a bore at first because we went to Old Lyme, that's a wizarding village, to visit the Macmillans and Old Lyme is dreadfully boring, but I ended up making a new friend."

"What a surprise." Aurora remarked. "Alice Fawley made a friend."

"Who was it?" Dorcas asked at the same time.

"Do you guys know Frank Longbottom? He's a year above us, in Ravenclaw." Alice answered.

"Coif!?" Aurora and Dorcas asked in surprise. "You made friends with _Coif_?"

"Coif?" Alice replied in confusion. "Who's Coif."

"You _hate _Coif." Dorcas reminded.

"I don't even know who Coif is!" Alice exclaimed. "And I don't hate anyone, dislike sure, but not hate."

"I can't believe you don't remember who Coif is." Aurora said with a shake of her head. "You made up his nickname for Pete's sake."

"Will one of you kindly explain?" Alice asked.

"Coif." Dorcas began. "Coif, is that bloke who gave us all detention last year. He has that one section of hair that curls over his forehead in a coif that you said irritated you. We've spent countless hours complaining about Coif."

"Why don't we like Coif?" Alice inquired trying to remember.

"His voice is annoying." Aurora answered. "And coifs are stupid. Also he gave us a week's worth of Detention once because I hexed Dwight Warrickson in the middle of the hallway and you started to do a celebratory dance and cheer loudly. After curfew."

Alice's eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh sweet Merlin! Coif! He took fifty points from Gryffindor once because he caught me snogging Arthur Derabon in the library!" Alice exclaimed.

"When did you snog Arthur Derabon in the library?" Dorcas asked.

"Last year. In the Herbology section." Alice answered at once. "_In the Herbology section._ Godric Gryffindor!"

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Aurora inquired, eyebrow raised.

"Frank's favorite class is Herbology." Alice said. "I can't believe I'm friends with Coif."

"It's a strange world we live in." Dorcas agreed.

"We completely misjudged him though. He's actually really fun and he _was _only doing his job. I mean, we haven't exactly been model students in the past." Alice said. "I've got to reconcile these two different versions of him in my mind. This is _weird_."

"I guess I can see where Coif can be an all right guy." Aurora commented. "He is friends with the Prewett twins and they're all right."

"Does he know you went out with Fabian?" Dorcas inquired.

"I don't think so." Alice answered. "Otherwise he'd have known me, don't you think? I imagine it's a story Fabian would have told."

"Well, if he doesn't he'll find out pretty soon probably." Dorcas remarked. "Once he tells Gideon and Fabian about his summer.

"Brilliant." Alice groaned. "Most embarrassing story of my life."

"It's a good story." Aurora said. "Objectively, I mean."

Alice let out a laugh.

"I can't believe that out of all the people I could have met this summer." She declared.

"I never thought I'd see the day." Aurora agreed.

"Can you promise me one thing?" Dorcas asked interrupting their laughter. "No matter what you won't become friends with Frizz? I can't stand that kid."

"I promise." Alice assured. "Frizz has a horrible personality, no worries there."

"Good." Dorcas said with a smile. "I don't want to be forced to hang out with him like I'm sure you'll make us hang out with Coif."

"Okay you guys can't call him Coif anymore." Alice said. "It's just weird. Frank, all right?"

"That will take getting used to." Aurora remarked. "Frank then."

"Frank." Dorcas agreed.

"So how'd you guys do on your OWLs?" Alice inquired changing the topic.

Dorcas made a face.

"All right." Aurora answered. "O in Astronomy, obviously. Only O I got."

"I'm beginning to rethink my decision of going to the Potions exam day drunk." Dorcas said. "It worked wonders for the History of Magic exam though."

"Dorcas you are incorrigible." Alice replied laughing.

"OWLs week was very stressful." Dorcas defended. "Maureen promised it'd help take the edge off."

"We don't take advice from Maureen O'Donahue." Aurora reminded.

"Well Alice was off in the library every single day _not _snogging anyone which I thought was odd because she never uses the library for its actual purpose-." Dorcas defended.

"Oi!" Alice exclaimed in outrage. "I study in the library all the time."

"Study Edwin Turnip's lips maybe." Aurora scoffed.

"His last name isn't Turnip!" Alice argued.

"Close enough." Dorcas said waving her off.

"You guys make me sound like Maureen." Alice pouted.

"Aww, you'd never be on Maureen's level dear." Dorcas soothed.

"Yeah, Maureen never gets caught and has fifty points taken from Gryffindor." Aurora commented.

Dorcas and Aurora broke out into a fit of giggles as Alice glared.

"Candy from the trolley?" The trolley lady called making Alice perk up.

"Yes, please." Alice said once she had joined the queue of students who were purchasing candy. "I'll take everything."

* * *

Alice, Dorcas, and Aurora snagged a carriage up to the castle from a couple of third years and made themselves comfortable as they waited for the fourth passenger to enter, each silently wondering who would be joining them. They didn't have to wait long until a person hopped into the carriage and the door closed, sending them on their way.

"Coif!" Aurora exclaimed in surprise.

"Frank." Alice corrected.

"What?" Frank asked in confusion.

"Hullo." Dorcas greeted.

All of this happened at the same time, and all four passengers were left trying to figure out what had just transpired. After a few moments they tried to begin again.

"Gideon and Fabian went up with Edwin Turnip and some bird and I saw you entering this carriage so I thought I'd hop in." Frank explained.

"His name's not Turnip." Aurora commented with a laugh.

"It isn't?" Frank asked. "I always thought it was."

"I did too." Aurora agreed. "Alice insists it isn't though."

"Well it's not." Alice said. "Everyone just _calls _him that."

"Alice is very protective of Edwin Turnip." Dorcas added. "What's his real last name anyways?"

"I have no idea." Alice replied with a laugh. "Edwin…Tur-something. I just know it's not Turnip."

"You really are rubbish with names." Frank observed. "How did Turnip even get started? I just heard Fabian calling him that one day and went with it."

"Alice." Dorcas and Aurora answered at once.

Alice buried her head in her hands and tried to stop laughing.

"She has nicknames for everyone." Dorcas explained. "She never remembers their _actual_ names so she just calls them by an identifying feature. It's a mark of friendship if she calls you by your actual name."

"Turnips nickname spread, though and now no one knows his actual name." Aurora continued. "I imagine he hates it and that's why Alice always corrects us."

"I feel guilty." Alice agreed. "It wasn't _meant _to catch on but I was talking to James about him and then someone over heard me and it just snowballed from there."

Dorcas and Aurora nodded in agreement and they fell into a comfortable silence for a bit before Frank broke it again.

"Okay so which one of you is Aurora and which one is Dorcas?" He asked looking at the two girls.

"Alice mentioned us?" Dorcas asked in surprise.

"Yes. Although only a little bit." Frank answered. "I know Aurora is obsessed with Astronomy and Dorcas gets irrationally jealous over other girls' hair."

"So Aurora gets to sound intelligent and I'm irrationally jealous?!" Dorcas exclaimed in outrage.

"Dorcas then." Frank commented. "And that makes you Aurora?"

Aurora nodded.

"In my defense, I did say it was irrational because you had the best hair in the year." Alice defended.

Dorcas looked appeased by this statement, at least minimally.

They fell into an awkward stinted conversation about the school year and summer holidays. It was not long before the carriage arrived at Hogwarts and they went their separate ways, Frank to find Fabian and Gideon, and Alice, Aurora, and Dorcas to find seats in the Great Hall.

"So Coif seems nice." Aurora commented once Frank had said his goodbyes.

"_Frank._" Alice corrected. "It's _Frank._"

* * *

"So Gideon got a cat over the summer." Fabian declared as he took part in the Welcoming Feast. "It's a weird little bugger."

"You got a cat?" Frank asked surprised.

"Yeah, we found it during that rain storm and took it in. I think it was a stray." Gideon answered.

"He has teeth like daggers." Fabian added. "I have bite bruises all up and down my leg from him!"

"He's a little vicious." Gideon allowed.

"_And _he always tries to get in the bathroom with you. He tried to _shower _with me once." Fabian continued. "Not to mention he never lets you pet him. He'll try and bite your hand off if you do."

"What's his name? Frank asked ignoring Fabian.

"Wayne." Gideon answered at once.

"Wayne?" Frank repeated. "What kind of cat is named _Wayne_?"

"The _weird _ones." Fabian grumbled.

"I like the name Wayne." Gideon defended. "It's a good solid name."

"What's Wayne look like then?" Frank inquired.

"Tuxedo cat." Gideon said. "He's really cute. And vicious. That's why I like him."

"He tried to run away about twenty times over the summer and guess who had to bring the growling, caterwauling thing back on." Fabian continued to rant. "Me. He's not even _my _cat."

Frank raised a bemused eyebrow.

"If you're going to insult my cat all dinner then you can go sit with the Gryffindors." Gideon threatened. "Considering you _are _one and all."

"I don't like the Gryffindors." Fabian remarked.

"You don't?" Frank asked surprised.

"Why do you think I sit with you lot?" Fabian replied. "They're all so _whiny_, and over-dramatic. I swear to Godric half of them are depressed or incredibly insecure and they jump down your throats if you say _one _thing they disagree with."

"You've got so much house pride it astounds me." Frank observed sarcastically.

"You've pretty much described yourself." Gideon said.

"I _know_. And I hardly can put up with myself half the time; I don't need to put up with people like me." Fabian exclaimed.

"I don't think all Gryffindors are like that though." Frank commented.

"No? How many Gryffindors are you friends with?" Fabian inquired. "The prefects don't count since they're technically your subordinates."

Frank ran through a list of Gryffindors he was friends with, a surprisingly small number, as Gideon looked on, interest piqued by the growing debate. Fabian, on the other hand, was looking at Frank smugly as if he knew he had won.

"Well I'm mates with Alice Fawley and she's not like that." Frank said finally.

"Are you?" Gideon asked in surprise.

"_Alice Fawley?" _Fabian repeated in disbelief. "_The _Alice Fawley?"

"Uh, yes?" Frank replied confused. "I didn't realize she was '_the _Alice Fawley'."

Fabian shook his head as though Frank were missing something vital in the conversation.

"Of course she's 'The Alice Fawley'. It's like you don't know who Alice Fawley _is._" Fabian finally said.

"I do though." Frank replied. "We hung out over the summer."

"Just so we're clear, the Alice Fawley you hung out with over the summer is the Alice Fawley that's sitting over there. The one with the blonde hair and round face who's sitting next to Dorcas Meadowes." Fabian clarified before adding as he got a better look at the group of girls, "Merlin what happened to Dorcas' hair."

"Who's Dorcas Meadowes?" Gideon asked curious.

"Do you two know _anything_?" Fabian exclaimed in annoyance. "I don't have time to sit here and give you a crash course of all the girls in Hogwarts."

"We're not Gryffindors." Frank pointed out. "We're also not _you_. We don't have a running check list of all the girls in Hogwarts."

Fabian let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Okay, let me give you a lesson in the Gryffindor sixth year girls then so I can save you lot the future embarrassment." Fabian said.

"I don't know if we need to know _all _the Gryffindor sixth year girls." Gideon pointed out. "I doubt they have that much relevance to us."

"No. You do." Fabian disagreed. "If you're going to insist upon accidentally hanging out with them 'over the summer' then I'm going to have to explain to you why that's not a good idea."

"I think you might be biased, mate." Frank commented.

"Biased? No. World wise? Yes." Fabian argued.

"Fine. Teach us all about the Gryffindor girls then, Fabian. I'm sure it will be thrilling and not at all insulting to their characters." Gideon allowed with a roll of his eyes.

"Good." Fabian said. "We'll start with Maureen O'Donahue then."

"Wait, I know Maureen O'Donahue." Gideon interjected. "I slept with her once, I think. Or was that you? I always get our girls confused."

"_Everyone _has." Fabian replied. "Maureen O'Donahue is the school slag."

"I haven't." Frank argued.

"That's because you'd much rather read books than feel up girls." Fabian scoffed.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Frank remarked.

"It is." Fabian assured. "Anyways, Maureen O'Donahue is the ginger one flirting with Turnips at the Hufflepuff table over there. She's got a dreadful Irish accent but she's a good shag so it's worth putting up with."

"Your respect for women astounds us all." Frank declared wryly.

"Thanks, I try." Fabian remarked. "Next is Lorna Carson. She's that angry looking brunette who's sitting next to Mary Macdonald and looks like she wants to murder her."

"Who's Mary Macdonald?" Gideon asked.

"I was wondering much the same." Frank added.

"You two are _hopeless_." Fabian sighed. "Mary Macdonald is that pretty brunette next to Lily Evans. I swear if you don't know who Lily Evans is I'm done talking to you."

"No, no. I know who she is. She's a prefect this year." Frank assured.

"Isn't she the one James Potter is always asking out?" Gideon asked.

"Yes. Thank you." Fabian exclaimed.

"The amount of gossip you follow terrifies me, Fabian." Frank commented. "You're worse than Bertha Jorkins."

"That's just insulting." Fabian replied. "Bertha Jorkins isn't even good looking. I am."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" Frank teased. "You Gryffindors are so sensitive."

Fabian sent Frank a glare as Gideon laughed.

"Back to educating you." Fabian declared.

"Is that what you were doing? Educating us?" Frank interrupted.

"Yes that's _exactly _what I'm doing. I'm explaining to you the female populace of Hogwarts because apparently you two have somehow missed everything." Fabian answered crossly. " You don't even know who Alice Fawley is!"

"To be fair, you haven't explained that at all." Gideon pointed out.

"I'm getting to it. If you two would stop interrupting." Fabian exclaimed.

"Sorry." Frank apologized, not meaning it in the least. "Go on."

"Right, so Lorna Carson. She's scary, Scottish, very angry, and you should probably just steer clear of her." Fabian surmised. "Then there's Florence Waters."

"She's a prefect, I know her." Frank interjected helpfully. "Her older sister was one too."

"Oh, I miss Melanie Waters." Fabian remarked with wistfully. "She was a good time."

"Please stop ruining people for me." Frank said. "I don't Melanie Waters sullied in my mind."

"Best Head Girl I ever met." Fabian recalled.

"You're getting off topic." Gideon commented. "We really don't want to know about your exploits."

"You're no fun." Fabian whined. "Florence Waters is pretty vanilla though, there's not much to say there."

"So really you just mentioned her to tell us that you and Melanie Waters had a fling?" Frank asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Fabian agreed. "Then there's Aurora Martins. She's the black one with her back to us."

"She likes Astronomy." Frank provided helpfully.

"Boring." Fabian proclaimed. "She hexed a boy once because he cheated on her. That's the most thrilling thing she's done."

"How do you even know that?" Gideon asked in disbelief. "Are you sure you and Bertha Jorkins aren't best mates? She's a Gryffindor as well."

"I don't like Bertha Jorkins!" Fabian exclaimed. "I know that because Frank was the one who gave her detention for it."

"Was I?" Frank asked surprised.

"Yes, you came back to the dorm laughing about it." Fabian said with a huff. "How do you not remember?"

"I give out about ten detentions a day, I'm not going to remember everyone." Frank commented. "Now that you mention it I do vaguely recall it."

"Then there's Dorcas Meadowes." Fabian continued, ignoring Frank. "Who's best quality _used _to be her nice blonde hair but now she's gone and ruined that so there's that possibility gone."

Frank and Gideon shook their heads.

"Disapprove if you must." Fabian said.

"Oh trust me, we must." Gideon assured.

"Finally, there's Alice Fawley." Fabian declared.

"Oh look, we've gotten to the point." Frank observed. "That didn't take nearly as long as I had expected."

"I think it's a new record." Gideon agreed.

"Alice Fawley," Fabian said loudly to get them to shut up, "is a heartbreaker. She's never had a boyfriend past two months and she dates chronically. To the point that _we _ended up going on a date just because it was inevitable."

"I remember that date!" Gideon exclaimed.

"Complete trainwreck." Fabian remarked.

"You and Alice went on a date?" Frank asked surprised.

"Last year. It was a complete mess and then she left early because her uncle died." Fabian surmised.

"Her uncle died?" Frank repeated.

"Yes. I asked her if she was all right later and she said they hadn't been that close." Fabian said with a shrug. "We never went on a second date though."

"That's all? That's 'The Alice Fawley'?" Frank asked bemused.

"I don't think you've understood the gravity of what I've said." Fabian replied.

"You guys went on a date, it ended poorly, you don't like her because she didn't put out." Frank surmised. "That basically the drift of it?"

"_No._" Fabian disagreed, offended. "She's bad news. Birds of a feather flock together, Frank."

"You just said she hung out with two of the most boring girls you know." Gideon pointed out.

"Fine, don't heed my warning. Have your heartbroken. I'll be sure to tell you I told you so." Fabian said.

"I'm not going to date her." Frank replied with a laugh. "We're just friends."

"Sure you aren't. That's why I can cut the sexual tension between you two with a knife." Fabian scoffed.

"You've never even seen us interact." Frank pointed out.

"That's just how sexually tense it is! I can feel it when you're a whole table apart." Fabian exclaimed.

"You're being over-dramatic, Fabian. I thought you hated that." Gideon commented.

"Shut up, Gideon." Fabian said crossly. "Go play with your stupid monster cat."

"His name is _Wayne_." Gideon reminded. "And he's not a monster."

"Oh look." Frank observed. "We've come full circle."

* * *

"Oh brilliant, the fucking equality brigade is back together." Lorna Carson declared as she entered the sixth year girls' dorm. "Couldn't one of you have dropped out?"

The Gryffindor sixth year girls' dorm consisted of six members, five of whom were in the dorm presently. Florence Waters sat on her bed in the corner, reading quietly. She looked up startled when Lorna entered and quickly went back to her book. Florence Waters was not the typical Gryffindor, she hung out mostly with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs and she found Lorna Carson to be loud and obnoxious. They did not get on at all.

Alice Fawley, blonde, round faced, and smiling, was unpacking and singing along to the Bob Dylan album that was playing in the background. She and Aurora had rigged the wizarding hi-fi to play muggle records as well their third year and it was not surprising to find Cat Stevens or Bob Dylan playing in the background of the girls dorm as Alice tended to monopolize it. She paused from her packing, looked up at Lorna, offered a smile, then went back to unpacking.

Dorcas Meadowes, lying on her bed upside down with a magazine held above her head paused from reading her article on the new wizarding band that was topping the charts, Smoldering Cauldron whose drummer she had a massive crush on, and raised an eyebrow at Lorna Carson's loud entrance. She folded down the corner of her magazine, intent to continue reading later, and gave Lorna her full attention as she was sure that it would be entertaining.

Aurora Martins, who had just gotten back from brushing her teeth in the bathroom, was trying to coerce her cat out from under the bed where she was positive it had a mouse. She had not told the other girls in the dormitory yet that Gatsby had found a mouse; Dorcas was terrified of them, and was trying to dispose of it quietly. At Lorna's rather loud entrance Aurora started and banged her head against her bed. Gatsby, her cat, freaked out at the sudden noise and turned to stare at her wide-eyed, white tail puffed out dramatically. Aurora took this moment to grasp the mouse, it was dead, and silently make her way to the windows next to Florence's bed. She did not give Lorna a second glance.

"Where's the Irish one?" Lorna asked, still standing in the doorway. "She finally get pregnant and drop out?"

"I think she's spending the night with Turnips." Dorcas answered raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"That's not his name!" Alice declared whirling around and knocking her newly purchased rememberall to the floor.

"Fucking typical." Lorna said walking into the room and towards her bed. "So how is the shining example of equality doing today?"

"I wish you'd stop calling us that." Aurora remarked from the window.

"That's what you are." Lorna replied. "What've you got there?"

"Gatsby killed a mouse." Aurora answered dropping the mouse out the window. "I was getting rid of the carcass."

Dorcas let out a screech.

"I _hate _that cat!" She exclaimed.

"How are we the equality brigade exactly?" Florence asked quietly from her bed, putting her book down.

Lorna looked at her in disbelief, Aurora groaned, Dorcas looked around for Gatsby in an attempt to force him out of the room, and Alice quietly went to the hi-fi to turn it up because her favorite song had just come on and she couldn't hear it over Lorna. Florence looked at Lorna challengingly.

"I have to explain this to you every year Flo, are you really that thick?" Lorna asked.

"Florence." Florence corrected.

"All right _Florence_." Lorna remarked. "As I've explained to you time and time again, we are the most racially diverse dorm in this whole castle. We've got the black one."

"Thanks." Aurora commented.

"No problem. Then we've got you the Asian one. The only thing we're missing is an Indian." Lorna continued. "If _that _weren't enough we've got two blondes, a brunette, a ginger, and you and Aurora have black hair."

Aurora rolled her eyes and Dorcas scooped Gatsby up and tried to covertly bring him towards the door without getting caught. Alice turned the hi-fi up even more.

"Finally, we've got every country in the UK represented. The Irish one, The Scottish one, you're Welsh, and to make it even better Alice is fucking Northern." Lorna finished gesturing to Alice. "For Godric's sake can you turn that shit down Alice? I can't hear myself think!"

"If you want to classify us by our physical features and nothing else then that's up to you." Florence commented.

"Oh for Christ's sake." Aurora remarked. "Are we getting into _this _again?"

"Did you just say Bob Dylan was _shit_?" Alice asked whirling around. "I'm sorry if you're musically deficient and think The Poppies are a quality band."

"You shouldn't have insulted Dylan." Dorcas added helpfully from the doorway. "Alice is in love with him."

"The Poppies are ten times better than whatever rubbish this is." Lorna exclaimed hotly. "And I'm not even going to _start_ on you Flo."

"It's _Florence_!" Florence corrected.

"Dorcas what the hell are you doing to Gatsby?" Aurora asked, realizing that Dorcas was depositing her cat outside of the room.

"Bob Dylan is a musical _god_." Alice argued. "The Poppies are back alley rubbish whose best song was Death of Damsels. Which wasn't even _that _good."

"I hate this cat!" Dorcas exclaimed. "I'm not sharing a room with it! I won't do it! What kind of name is Gatsby anyways?!"

"It's a literary name, are you actually that ignorant?" Florence interjected.

"Death of Damsels is only The Poppies second best song. Holiday's Hell is their _best _song." Lorna argued. "It's like you've never even _listened _to music before."

"The Poppies sold out! They do all those Honeydukes jingles. How can you even like a band like that?" Alice pointed out. "And I'm _allergic_ to cats, guys."

"We go over this every year!" Aurora said throwing her arms up in the air. "I make sure Gatsby doesn't go near your stuff."

"'The Great Gatsby' was a horrible book anyways!" Alice proclaimed. "There wasn't a single likeable character and don't even get me started on Daisy Buchanan."

"I can't believe you think The Poppies are good music!" Dorcas remarked. "They use the same base rhythms in every song and they're all a bunch of uber-feminists singing about how males suck."

"Their music is a representation of my soul." Lorna declared.

"Then you soul sucks." Dorcas and Alice proclaimed.

"I quite like The Poppies." Florence added. "And 'The Great Gatsby'."

"No one asked you Florence!" Everyone yelled at once.

"Dorcas what the feck happened to your hair?" Maureen O'Donahue asked from the doorway, the sixth dorm mate.

Maureen O'Donahue was curvy, with long red hair, a splattering of freckles, and a sharp upturned nose. She was rarely seen in the dormitory as she spent most nights in a random guy's bed and she was the official school whore. She stood, perfectly plucked eyebrows raised, in the doorway with Gatsby in her arms looking at Dorcas with a look of horror.

Everyone stopped fighting at once and turned to look at Maureen O'Donahue with a look of surprise. She was unrumpled, with no hickeys, her uniform was buttoned up precisely and her skirt was at the proper length. If that was not weird enough since she had hit puberty there was not a single year Maureen O'Donahue had spent the first night of Hogwarts in her own dorm room.

"Maureen." Florence remarked. "What are you doing here? We thought you were with Turnip?"

"That's not his name!" Alice exclaimed once again.

"Edwin Turlipskey," Maureen began with a small smile, "and I met this summer during a meeting of Circe's Children. We were simply discussing how we would help spread the word of Circe during the school year."

"What?" Dorcas asked surprised. "You didn't sleep with him?"

"Circe's Children do not believe in free love." Maureen said as though this were obvious. "I've reformed my promiscuous ways."

"What?" Florence asked in surprise.

"You guys should consider joining, Circe's Children is a great group." Maureen suggested.

"I…" Aurora began unsure of what to say. "I…_What_?"

Maureen smiled at them all as she rummaged through her trunk.

"I have pamphlets if you want to peruse them." She offered pulling them out.

"Isn't Circe's Children a cult?" Alice inquired.

"Don't be silly." Maureen said.

"Fantastic." Lorna declared sarcastically. "As if we weren't diverse enough we've got a member of a fucking cult now."

Maureen shook her head at Lorna and placed Gatsby on the floor.

"I'm going to go brush my teeth." She announced before walking out of the room.

The five other girls watched her go, looks of disbelief on their faces. Once she had gone a silence hung over the room as each girl tried to voice their confusion, but was unable to find the words. Finally, Alice broke the silence.

"I _told _you his name isn't Turnip." She said smugly. "It's Edwin Turlipskey."

* * *

It is a wide belief by many that the first day of a new school year is a harbinger for what is meant to come. As the first day back to Hogwarts began to wind down and the various students went to sleep a strange foreboding feeling hung over the air. The day had been a strange turn of events for almost everyone, surprises appearing and secrets being revealed. If there was anything that could be said about the start of the 1976 school year it was that it was going to be odd, unpredictable, and different from any before.

With the war reaching an all new high and tensions within the castle beginning to grow it was inevitable that the 1976 school year was going to be one worth remembering. It was the year that Severus Snape called Lily Evans a mudblood ruining their friendship forever, it was the year that at least one student well known by the Hogwarts populace would die, it was the year where new romances would begin, some burning bright and short and some flickering on and off like the flame on a trick candle, it was the year where everything would change.

On that first night, however, as sleep overtook them they were not aware just how important their lives would be and most of all how important this year would be in shaping them.

* * *

**Before I let you go on your merry way I have an important announcement: updates to this story might go from twice a month to once a month because being employed is really time consuming. Sorry.**


	7. Chapter Six

Gilderoy Lockhart was in love. He was in love with gorgeous golden hair, sparkling entrancing eyes, full rose colored lips that achieved the perfect pout, and, in his own words, an ass that just wouldn't quit. Gilderoy Lockhart was undoubtedly in love, but not with another person, with himself.

Gilderoy was the sort of person who would take a glance at his reflection in every suit of armor that he passed, flashing a cocky smile at the perfectly curled hair that fell over his forehead or the way his blue eyes sparkled just perfectly in the light. Sometimes he just couldn't believe that someone so perfect could have been born. It seemed unfair to everyone else.

Gilderoy was a giver, or at least he liked to pretend he was, and therefore he thought it was only fair that he give the gift of his beauty to others. This was why he dated. He tried to find someone with similar qualities to him, he loved himself before everything else after all, and that is how he had ended up asking out Alice Fawley.

Alice Fawley's hair happened to be the same shade as his, although perhaps less golden and more sandy, and he had to admit that she had nice full lips and an adorable butt, though nowhere near as great as his. It didn't hurt that he had heard that Alice Fawley was easy. Gilderoy, although the textbook example of perfection, was still human, after all.

He had not, however, seen his girlfriend since June when the school year had ended and he was beginning to get rather impatient. Here he was, gracing her with his presence, and she had yet to put out. Some people were so selfish.

He made his way down to breakfast, momentarily distracted on the third floor by the row of suits of armor which showed his reflection perfectly. His detour ended up being in his favor, although staring at himself was always in his favor, as he ended up in the Entrance Hall at the same time as his previously missing girlfriend Alice Fawley.

Alice, who had just finished breakfast was chatting with her two friends, the kind of pretty one and the one with nice hair to Gilderoy, looked up at the stairs as she made her way out of the Great Hall and made eye contact with Gilderoy. An array of emotions flickered over her face and Gilderoy imagined she was stunned that she got to date him, his beauty stopped people in their tracks nearly every day.

"Gilderoy!" She exclaimed happily. "How was your summer?"

"Allison." He greeted, sometimes he liked to pretend he didn't remember her name to keep her interested. "My summer was pretty great; I went to France for a month."

"Oh, so did Aurora!" Alice said gesturing to Kind Of Pretty.

"That's…nice." Gilderoy remarked, annoyed to have the attention off of him. "I thought we were meant to get together this summer."

"Oh right." Alice said, as though just remembering. "Sorry about that, I ended up getting dragged to Old Lyme to meet my sister's fiancé's family and-."

"Yeah, whatever, it's fine." Gilderoy said cutting Alice off. "Have you already had breakfast?"

"Uh, yeah." Alice answered slightly annoyed.

"All right, we'll have lunch together then." Gilderoy decided.

He gave Alice a quick peck on the lips before strutting into the Great Hall.

"Jesus he is such a prat." Aurora exclaimed once he had gone. "Why are you dating him?"

"He's fit and a good snog." Alice said with a shrug. "I don't know, I suppose because I won't feel bad when we break up."

"Well, you get to spend a whole lunch with him staring at his reflection in a spoon." Dorcas commented.

"You don't think I'd be able to accidentally blow it off?" Alice inquired hopefully.

"He reminds me of that Carly Simon song." Aurora said.

"What one?" Dorcas asked trying to remember.

"You're So Vain." Aurora answered.

"You walked into the party, like you were walking onto a yacht." Alice sang.

"Your hat strategically dipped below one eye." Aurora added with a laugh.

"Your scarf it was apricot!" Dorcas exclaimed, the song coming back to her.

"You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte." They sang together, erupting into a peal of giggles.

"That is _so_ him." Dorcas gasped out.

"I'm going to hear that song every time I see him now." Alice said. "Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome." Aurora replied. "You're so vain…"

"Stop!" Alice ordered as she started to laugh harder.

"I bet you think this song is about you." Dorcas continued, ignoring Alice. "You're so vain."

"What is going on out here?" Frank interrupted followed closely by the Prewett twins.

The confusion was warranted as Alice was nearly on the floor laughing as Aurora sang the song at the top of her lungs. Dorcas, who had been previously singing along between giggles, had stopped dead and was staring wide eyed at the boys.

"We just had a Gilderoy encounter." Aurora explained letting out a laugh.

"Oh right. We just saw him sit down at the Ravenclaw table and promptly stare at his reflection in his plate." Gideon commented.

"You had one eye in the mirror…" Aurora muttered to Alice causing her to break out into a fit of laughter again.

"For Merlin's sake Aurora, stop." Alice ordered. "I'm going to pee myself from laughing so hard."

"Things I did not hear today." Frank commented wryly.

"Shit." Alice exclaimed. "How long have you guys been standing there?"

"You're so observant, Alice dear." Aurora remarked.

"Alice." Fabian greeted awkwardly. "How's your aunt?"

"Oh yeah, all right, thanks for asking. She's got some new gentleman friend she invites to all our family dinners and it's weird." Alice answered.

"Dorcas." Fabian said nodding towards here.

"Hey…" Dorcas replied voice slightly high as she gave an awkward wave.

"Jesus, Dorcas. Talk much?" Aurora asked.

"Very rarely." Dorcas replied, snapping out of her funk for a second. "Can't get in a word with you round."

"Hey Gideon." Alice greeted loudly over her friends.

"Hey Alice?" Gideon replied confused by the loud volume.

"Frank." Alice continued.

"Alice." Frank replied.

Dorcas and Aurora continued to argue amongst themselves, unnoticed by the rest of the party.

"Anyways we have Potions." Alice proclaimed, glaring at her two friends.

"And Alice has a lunch date afterwards." Aurora added. "With Gilderoy, he's so vain."

"He probably thinks this song is about him." Dorcas continued with a laugh.

"Oh my Godric, stop. You guys are so embarrassing." Alice ordered shoving her friends towards the stairs to the dungeons.

Once they had left, Dorcas and Aurora still singing the song, the three seventh years shared a confused look.

"What just happened?" Gideon asked finally.

"I told you guys, Gryffindors are just plain _weird_." Fabian answered.

* * *

By the time they had gotten to potions Dorcas and Aurora had quieted themselves and were back to some semblance of normal. This, of course, meant that Aurora and Dorcas were bickering. Alice, forever the middle friend, what's standing between them hoping Slughorn would pick out potions partners already.

"What the fuck was that, Dorcas?" Aurora asked.

"What was what?" Dorcas replied confused.

"Your awkward high-pitched hey." Aurora clarified.

"Oh. That." Dorcas said slightly embarrassed.

"Sometimes I wish I had less embarrassing friends." Alice commented.

Typically, neither of them listened.

"Yeah, that." Aurora repeated. "What was up with it?"

"I don't know if you guys are aware, but the Prewett twins are practically ginger sex gods." Dorcas exclaimed, rather loudly considering they were in a crowded room.

"What?" Alice asked with a laugh. "They are not."

"Have you _looked _at them?" Dorcas replied. "They're like sex on sticks!"

"I don't even know what that _means_." Alice said. "Good band name, though."

"Oh my Godric, Alice. Stop thinking about music for five seconds and open your eyes to the hotness before you!" Dorcas exclaimed. "Gideon and Fabian are _fit_."

"So you decided you were going to impress them by doing an impersonation of a hamster?" Aurora asked wryly.

"I'm such a spaz." Dorcas moaned. "Did I really sound like a hamster?"

"Yes." Alice and Aurora answered.

"But hamsters can be cute?" Alice offered helpfully.

"I hate hamsters." Aurora commented. "I had a pet hamster once. It died."

"You're not helping, Aurora." Alice muttered, elbowing her friend.

"You probably killed your pet hamster." Dorcas added.

"My brother put it in the microwave." Aurora said.

"What the fuck." Lorna interrupted. "Your brother is a serial killer or what?"

"No." Aurora replied. "It was an accident."

"How do you accidentally put a hamster in the microwave?" Dorcas asked.

"Next he'll accidentally put _you _in the microwave." Lorna said.

Alice let out a loud laugh causing the three girls to look at her in confusion.

"I just got this image of Aurora in a microwave." Alice explained.

"You have such a strange sense of humor." Aurora said with a shake of her head.

"All right, all right." Slughorn said quieting the class down as he walked in. "If you'd direct your attention towards these cauldrons…"

* * *

With the arrival of lunch Alice was forced to separate from her two friends and sit at the Ravenclaw table with Gilderoy. It didn't take long for him to show up, strutting into the room with a confident smirk on his face. He sat across from Alice, gave her a quick peck on the lips, and then went about checking his hair in the spoon on the table.

"So how's your day been?" Alice asked in an effort to direct his attention away from the spoon.

"It's been all right. Tad boring." Gilderoy answered, not looking up. "Did you miss me?"

"Um, yes, I suppose." Alice said.

She started to eat as she waited for Gilderoy to finish checking himself over. Finally, he looked up and sent a dazzling smile her way.

"So what's this I hear about you cheating on me with Frank Longbottom?" Gilderoy asked, surprising Alice.

"I'm sorry, what?" She replied.

"I mean, it's baffling enough you'd cheat on _me_, but with _Frank Longbottom_ of all people? Come on." Gilderoy continued.

"I'm not cheating on you." Alice said.

"That's not what Nora Whitehorn's been saying." Gilderoy argued.

"Nora Whitehorn's a dirty liar then, isn't she?" Alice defended. "I only told her we were dating so she'd leave Frank alone."

"So you started a rumor you were dating another bloke, then?" Gilderoy asked confused.

"Unintentionally." Alice agreed. "I'm not though."

"Well obviously." Gilderoy said. "Who would cheat on _me_?"

Alice pursed her lips in annoyance as she silently wondered why he would ask in the first place, besides to boost his own ego.

"That's right. You're perfect." She said sarcastically.

"Thank you, you're above average." Gilderoy replied, beaming at her as though he had just given her the best compliment.

"Thank you?" Alice said.

"You're welcome."

They sat in silence for a little while as Alice piled more food onto her plate and Gilderoy carefully picked out the foods that he deemed worthy of gracing his body. As he finished picking out his lunch he looked up at Alice who had grabbed a roll and piled it high with food seemingly at random.

"Wow Allison." He said in surprise, remembering to get her name wrong at the last second. "Want to watch your figure, yeah?"

Alice gaped at him for a full minute, roll dropping from her hand.

"Are you _kidding _me?" She asked in outrage.

"Just looking out for you best interest, dear." Gilderoy said patting her hand.

Alice blinked in quick succession as she tried not to dump her pumpkin juice on Gilderoy's head.

"Do you want to go snog or what?" She asked finally because that was the only time he was bearable.

"I'm eating." Gilderoy said gesturing to his small pile of food. "And it seems so are you."

He gave a look of disgust to Alice's plate before raising his eyebrows up at her as if silently noting just how much food she was planning on eating. Alice tried not to seethe. She was unsuccessful. She stood up abruptly, making Gilderoy's face twist into one of confusion and surprise. Wordlessly she picked up the pitcher of pumpkin juice that was sitting near them on the counter and poured it over Gilderoy's perfectly styled hair.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized sarcastically. "I think that might have been full of empty calories. Better watch you figure, yeah?"

She clattered away from the table, grabbing her plate, and turned back to Gilderoy's shocked, drenched face.

"And it's _Alice_. It's _five _letters for Pete's sake!" She exclaimed before pounding off towards the Gryffindor table.

* * *

Dorcas Meadowes sat in the library surrounded by dusty old tomes. She had her nose pressed against one of the pages as she scanned the long list of names before her, looking for something, anything. Dorcas Meadowes was on a quest, one that she wasn't sure she would ever finish, but she had to try. Dorcas was on a hunt for her parents.

Sixteen years ago Dorcas had been sent to one of the wizarding orphanages that were dotted around Great Britain. She had lived in the less than satisfactory conditions for her whole life and a large portion of that time was spent trying to track down anything about her parents. She was left with nothing but her last name, incredibly common and possibly made up, and had been told by the Head of the Department for Orphaned or Abandoned Magical Children that her case was what they liked to refer to as a 'closed transfer'.

It was aggravating that they had all but told her that there were documents sitting neatly in a little folder in the filing room labeled 'Dorcas Meadowes' with all the information she'd been trying to find out since she'd first learned that growing up surrounded by children of varying ages all packed into one housing facility was not normal. They had practically waved the folder in her face before saying she couldn't have access.

It made Dorcas want to scream.

She had therefore abandoned the hope that the Department for Orphaned or Abandoned Magical Children would cooperate with her in any way shape and form and had gone back to her failsafe and tedious plan of browsing through the pages upon pages of records that sat generally untouched in the Hogwarts library. She had the school graduation records piled high on her table from 1949 to 1962, she had started in the 1930's last year and was slowly making her way through, and she was copying out any male of female Meadowes that may appear.

There were a lot. She had hundreds of names copied neatly onto parchment and she planned to cross reference them with the open St. Mungo's records for 1959 which she had requested access to last spring and was still hoping to be approved. It was a longshot, but it was all Dorcas had.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked startling Dorcas, who had been dozing on the book in front of her.

Her eyes snapped open and she flew up off the book, letting out a sneeze as she unsettled a layer of dust that had settled on the pages ages ago. She looked around wildly trying to find the person who had interrupted her dream, and her eyes landed on a stocky, ginger figure.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He apologized as Dorcas went into full blown panic mode. "It's just there are no seats at the other tables and you have a bunch."

Dorcas stared at him wide eyed, unsure what to do. A Prewett twin was standing there talking to _her_, wanting to sit at _her _table, and her hair was a complete mess! She suddenly wished she could dissolve into the carpet.

"Dorcas, right?" He asked. "Is it all right if I sit here?"

Dorcas nodded letting out a very high-pitched 'mhm' as she tried to shuffle some of the large books further over to her side of the table.

"You don't talk much, do you?" He asked slightly bemused.

Dorcas shrugged noncommittally, she talked a lot but not to ginger sex gods who were older and cooler than her. She wasn't sure if she should even breathe the same air as him.

"Gideon Prewett." He introduced sticking out his hand over the books.

"Dorcas Meadowes." Dorcas managed, placing her hand in his. "But I guess you already knew that?"

The three seconds that they shook hands were possibly the three most disconcerting seconds of Dorcas' life, and once her hand was back on her side of the table she was not entirely sure if she had dreamed the whole interaction. Gideon was still there though, and he was smiling at her. Dorcas swallowed.

"NEWTs work?" She asked gesturing to the books that Gideon had placed in front of him.

"It's only the first week and they're already piling it on." Gideon said with a nod. "Just wait until your seventh year. What are you doing?"

Dorcas looked down at her meticulous list of names and the books that were spread out open before her. Her cheeks colored in embarrassment at possibly having to explain what she was doing to someone she wasn't friends with, and a _Prewett _at that. She didn't have to tell the truth though, she realized, so she did the next best thing, she lied.

"It's this project for History of Magic." She said hoping she sounded somewhat believable.

"You're in NEWTs level History of Magic?" Gideon asked impressed.

"Yeah, I um, really like magical history?" Dorcas answered.

The truth was, of course, that she had accidentally managed to pick all the right answers on the exam and write an all right enough essay to pass and as Dorcas had no idea what to do with her life she had kept taking it. She was not passionate about history at all, however, especially considering she had none herself, but her drunk self seemed to be ecstatic at it and Dorcas wasn't going to let her drunk self down.

"How many of you are in that class? I don't imagine very many people pass _and _keep taking it." Gideon said.

"There're only three of us. It's pretty great." Dorcas replied.

What she failed to mention was that the reason why it was 'pretty great' was because the only other two members were Zeddie Rowle and Aidan Poppachinsky both of whom were ridiculously attractive. Dorcas didn't need Gideon Prewett knowing that she spent about ninety percent of her time staring at her attractive male classmates, though. She certainly didn't need him to know that at least twenty percent of that time was spent staring at his and his brother's butts.

"Binns still as boring as ever?" Gideon inquired.

"Obviously." Dorcas answered.

"All right, I suppose I ought to stop procrastinating and get started on my homework." Gideon decided heaving a sigh. "And I'll let you get back to your History of Magic project."

"Good luck." Dorcas offered with a small smile.

"You too."

Dorcas tried to focus on her long list of names and dates as Gideon set about opening his books and getting out parchment. It was almost impossible though, with her sitting no more than five feet away from him. Dorcas was almost sure she could smell him and he smelled lovely, he smelled like a cool breeze on a hot summer day, earthy, with an underlying musk, that musky scent that everyone boy seemed to possess. Dorcas wanted to wrap herself in that smell and never leave. Suddenly she couldn't remember if she had showered or not that morning.

How was she meant to focus on finding her parents, on reading name after name, when there was such an attractive, wonderful smelling boy sitting a few chairs down from her? She could hear his shallow breathing, the occasional sigh as he came to a particularly difficult problem, the scratching of his quill on the paper. She was hyperaware of every movement, the tapping of his foot on the ground, the way he was worrying his lip over whatever it was he was doing. She tried not to think of his lips.

She was not going to get any farther in her investigation today. Not with bloody Gideon Prewett, _Gideon Prewett _of all people, sitting so close to her. The names were a blur before her, she couldn't focus, it just wasn't going to happen. Perhaps she could convince Madame Pince to let her take the book out, or at least leave a marker so she'd know where she'd left off. Madame Pince never let anyone take records out of the library.

Dorcas began to dig through her bag for something to mark the page with, surreptitiously trying to sniff herself as she did, she had never hated how unorganized she was before. She began to pull out random objects, paintbrushes, muggle markers, textbooks, a hairbrush, tampons, as she attempted to find a loose piece of paper to mark out the page of her book. She finally grasped a stray bookmark, one that probably fell from her battered copy of 'Franny and Zooey' which she had probably read a hundred times, and pulled it out.

She looked up, smiling victoriously, and accidentally made eye contact with Gideon who was looking at her, eyebrows furrowed. Confused hazel eyes met wide blue ones as Dorcas realized that she had upended her bag onto the table. She broke eye contact with Gideon for a second to glance at her pile where, to her increasing embarrassment, several tampons lay amidst quills and half-finished letters. Her eyes slid back to Gideon in probably the longest moment of her life as she watched him glance at the contents of her bag, now on the table, and turn a slight pink.

"I, um, was looking for. Yeah." Dorcas said her voice getting progressively higher. "Sorry."

"It's all right." Gideon replied trying to focus on the essay in front of him unsuccessfully.

"I'm just going to, um, right." Dorcas continued sliding everything back into her bag. "There, never happened."

Gideon seemed to be insistent upon looking nowhere but at his essay. Dorcas let out a shaky strained laugh before shoving her bookmark into the page of student records and closing the book. She began to collect the various books she had taken out before. Gideon glanced up as she hurried off to the section she had gotten them from then quickly looked back at his essay as she began to return.

"It was, um, nice meeting you." Dorcas offered grabbing her bag and giving an awkward little wave before turning around to speed off and die of embarrassment.

"Dorcas, wait!" Gideon called after her making Dorcas spin around. "You forgot your…"

Dorcas looked at his hands where her parchment of carefully written names was and felt her cheeks color as he trailed off to look down it.

"What kind of project did you say it was again?" He asked eyebrows furrowed.

"I, uh, yeah." Dorcas managed walking forward and snatching the paper from his hand. "Thanks."

Research safely in her hand Dorcas made her way out of the library as fast as possible without receiving a glare or scolding from Madame Pince. She promptly went back to her room to hide away for the rest of her life and over analyze every single thing that had happened. Why did it have to be Gideon Prewett of all people?

* * *

Aurora Martins was asleep. She wasn't one of those people who treasured sleep above all things, but when she was asleep she tended to like to stay that way, especially when she was having a nice dream. She was currently dreaming that she had won the Nobel Peace Prize for new discoveries in Astronomy, when for some reason Einstein began to whisper her name in a low conspiratorially way.

"Aurora." Einstein whispered, startling Aurora.

"Yeah, Albert?" Aurora replied because in her dreams she and Albert Einstein were best friends.

"Aurora." Einstein repeated. "Come smoke with me."

"I hardly think this is the time." Aurora whispered back, smiling at the people in the audience as she received her award.

"Aurora." Einstein whined. "Wake up."

Einstein was beginning to sound a lot less like an aging man and a lot more like her dorm mate, Alice Fawley. That was when Aurora woke up.

"Oh good. You're awake." Alice declared blonde hair falling around Aurora's face as Alice's round face floated about two inches above her.

"Jesus Christ, Alice." Aurora exclaimed as her view was occupied entirely by Alice's olive eyes and dimples.

"Shh." Alice whispered. "Everyone's asleep."

"The question is why aren't _you?" _Aurora hissed pushing Alice back so she could sit up.

"Come smoke with me." Alice repeated.

"It's…three in the morning." Aurora pointed out glancing at her watch.

"Perfect time to go for a smoke." Alice replied with a smile.

"Go smoke with James then." Aurora said, flopping back into her bed.

"James is a philosophical smoker. It's annoying." Alice whined. "He's all 'look at how our smoke floats into the heavens'. Who the hell cares?"

"Are you sure it's cigarettes James is smoking?" Aurora asked raising her eyebrows.

"Come smoke with me." Alice repeated. "Please."

"Go smoke by yourself." Aurora said.

"Where's the fun in that?" Alice asked.

"Where's the fun in smoking at _three in the morning_?" Aurora retorted.

"Come on." Alice whined.

"Fine." Aurora relented. "I'll smoke with you."

A giant smile spread across Alice's face and Aurora was sure that if it was not three in the morning she would cheer.

"I have something for you, actually." Aurora said getting out of bed.

"A present for me?" Alice asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I got it while in France." Aurora answered rummaging in her bedside table. "I figured I owed you some since I'm always pawning you cigarettes."

"Did you get me French cigarettes?!" Alice whisper-yelled as Aurora held up the packaging. "You are the best!"

"I know." Aurora said modestly. "Now put your smoking slippers on so we can go."

Alice moved over to the foot of her bed and slid on a pair of slippers and grabbed a bathrobe that was lying on top of her trunk. Aurora raised an eyebrow as she slid on a pair of slippers herself.

"Well, if we get caught I don't want to be brought to Dumbledore in nothing but a t-shirt and panties." Alice said gesturing to her trouserless legs.

"Imagine what Bertha Jorkins would say." Aurora said with a laugh. "All right, come on."

They crept out of the sixth year girls' dorm and made their way down the stairs towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Once they were no longer passing sleeping Gryffindor's rooms they stopped worrying about being quite so quiet. No one was ever up at three am and there was rarely anyone patrolling the hallways, so their chances of getting caught were very slim. When they got down to the door leading to the grounds in the Entrance Hall they found that it was, as could have been expected, locked.

"Oh come on." Aurora exclaimed kicking the door.

"No it's fine." Alice replied kneeling in front of the door.

"Alohomora's not going to work." Aurora said skeptically.

"Who do you think I am? This isn't amateur hour." Alice scoffed pulling a hair pin out of her hair.

"You are not going to pick the lock." Aurora remarked in disbelief.

"Well I had to do _something _when I wasn't hanging out with Frank this summer." Alice replied setting to work on the lock.

"And, being the perfectly normal human being that you are, you thought 'Hm, I've always wanted to learn to pick locks.'" Aurora retorted with a roll of her eyes.

"I thought it'd come in handy if we ever had to break into a building to help Dorcas." Alice said with a shrug. "Plus it doesn't hurt when you need to smoke at three in the morning."

"Well as long as you're being practical." Aurora said sarcastically.

"You mock me, yet without me you'd be standing here unable to smoke at three in the morning." Alice replied standing up.

"Without you I wouldn't be trying to smoke at three in the morning." Aurora pointed out.

"Technicalities." Alice said waving her off. "Come smoke with me and stare at the stars in the sky."

Aurora followed with a shake of her head. As soon as they were outside Alice was fumbling in the pockets of her bathrobe for her wand so she could light her cigarette. She had it in a few seconds and lit her and Aurora's cigarettes before placing it back safely in the pocket.

"Where d'you want to go?" Alice asked, enjoying her long awaited cigarette.

"At three am?" Aurora replied. "The Black Lake, obviously."

"That sounds lovely." Alice agreed making her way towards the lake. "The moon always reflects off it beautifully."

"Don't go getting all philosophical smoker on me Alice." Aurora warned. "Maybe you should have gotten James Potter after all."

"I can't have deep conversations with James." Alice replied waving her off. "Let's go sit on the rock."

"You and that bloody rock." Aurora muttered. "Was a cigarette smoking session just an excuse to talking to me in private?"

"Don't be silly. I really needed a fag." Alice said. "But we have to talk about something while we're out here."

"I'm sure you already have a topic in mind." Aurora observed.

Alice settled onto 'the rock', which was a rock that sat along the edge of the lake and would occasionally become slightly submerged if there had been a lot of rain. One could place their toes lightly in the cool water from atop the rock, and Alice did just that placing her slippers beside her. Aurora did the same, and they sat there making circles with their toes in the water as the smoke from their cigarettes drifted lazily towards the sky.

"I think I'm going to break up with Gilderoy." Alice said finally, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

"Hadn't you already?" Aurora replied confused. "I thought when you'd dumped the pumpkin juice on him that was that."

"No, I apologized and we ended up snogging in a broom closet." Alice clarified with a shrug. "I just don't see the point of why anymore, you know?"

"He is a tosser." Aurora pointed out. "And what's with him calling you Allison all the time?"

"I've no idea. I _know _he knows my name, it's like he thinks it's attractive to call me by the wrong name." Alice said. "I don't get it in the least."

"He thinks he's attractive." Aurora replied.

"Well, obviously." Alice agreed. "I didn't mind so much last year but now it's all so annoying."

"What changed?" Aurora asked curiously.

"I don't know, I always thought it was sort of funny before, you know, how he's so self-involved. I'd think, 'Oh that's just Gilderoy'. Now though it's like I can't even have a conversation with him. He doesn't have anything meaningful to say." Alice thought aloud.

"I don't mean to be rude, but he never did." Aurora pointed out.

"But it didn't bother me before." Alice said slightly annoyed at the thought. "It does now. Why can't he have one intelligent conversation that isn't about him? Why doesn't he let me ramble on about constellations or make fun of the way that I always act like a five year old or I don't know?"

"Probably because that's not who he is." Aurora remarked. "Sounds like you wish he was someone else."

"I just wish he was something _more_." Alice exclaimed frustrated.

"So break it off. It wouldn't be the first time." Aurora suggested.

"I guess I'll have to." Alice agreed. "Maybe I'll fly solo for a while."

"Alice Fawley without a boyfriend?" Aurora asked surprised. "Is that possible?"

"Wanker." Alice said shoving Aurora slightly.

"Don't hate me because I tell the truth." Aurora teased.

They fell back into silence, listening to the sounds of the night life around them. It was Aurora who broke the silence next.

"Where'd you get all that anyways?" She inquired curiously.

"All what?" Alice asked confused.

"What you wished Gilderoy would be? You couldn't have just thought it up off the top of your head, after all." Aurora explained. "Seemed pretty specific."

"I don't know. It just seems like something nice." Alice answered with a shrug. "Being able to have conversations like that with someone. Having someone willing to listen to what you say and not tease you about yourself."

"So you weren't thinking of someone specific?" Aurora asked sounding slightly upset. "Pity, I thought maybe you'd finally found someone you could be happy with."

"Don't be silly, Aurora." Alice said cocking a smile towards her friend. "I could never be happy. Like my Great Aunt Tessa said, I systematically ruin every good thing that could happen to me."

"Yeah, but if someone like _that _came along I'd kind of hope you'd keep 'em round." Aurora commented. "It's not very often you'll find someone who will listen to _you _prattle on and on about nothing."

"You're so mean to me." Alice pouted.

"It's how I show my love." Aurora replied.

"Well, then you must love Dorcas a lot. You're always mean to her."

Aurora wrinkled her nose.

"Do you think it's weird Dorcas doesn't know we smoke?" Alice asked suddenly.

"Doesn't she?" Aurora replied. "How could she not?"

"Well she's never actually _seen _us smoke and she doesn't smoke." Alice reasoned.

"Yes, but she doesn't invite us to get drunk on exam days with her so it all evens out." Aurora decided.

Alice laughed.

"She'll have to now though, since Maureen has joined Circe's Children." Alice pointed out.

"Weirdest thing I ever heard." Aurora remarked. "Still can't believe that happened."

"It's going to be a weird year." Alice decided.

"Pretty damn weird." Aurora agreed.


End file.
